Rosewood, C.B. Aycock spikers find some answers

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on August 19, 2014 1:46 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

PIKEVILLE -- County rivals Rosewood and Charles B. Aycock each answered some questions on the volleyball court Monday afternoon.

The Eagles found some offensive firepower.

The Golden Falcons discovered a libero.

Junior Lexi Mercer and outside hitter Ashley Thornton cranked out 10 kills apiece during Rosewood's 25-16, 28-26, 17-25, 25-17 victory. It was the season-opening match for both teams.

"This was completely unexpected because I'm rebuilding," said RHS coach Jennifer Cochran, who lost eight seniors to graduation and returns just two starters -- Mercer and Thornton.

"This group has a little bit more heart than I've had in a really, really long time. We had a good time, which was our motto today."

Hannah Daniels contributed seven kills and one solo block for the Eagles. Ada Rivera and Macy Tyndall, a pair of first-year setters, combined for 22 assists in the four-set affair.

Transfer Sydney Schmeltzer paced Aycock's offense with eight kills. Front-row mates Courtney Warner and Emily Patnaude each supplied seven kills.

Morgan Foss and Abbie Walton combined for 30 of the Golden Falcons' 31 total assists on 39 team kills. Foss, Warner and outside hitter Taylor Daniels (six kills) return from last season.

"All in all, I'm disappointed that we lost, but I'm not discouraged by any means," Aycock head coach Emily Burke said.

Like Cochran, Burke is finding some missing pieces. The CBA alum anticipates keeping Schmeltzer, who played at Eastern Wayne last season, on the court for every service rotation. Abby Shenk will don the libero jersey and help unclog the middle, which proved troublesome against the Eagles all afternoon.

Rosewood dumped some short balls inside the 3-meter line and toward the middle that kept Aycock's defense tight. But the Golden Falcons constantly tripped over each other instead of playing their positions and letting the setter handle the second ball to create an offensive attack.

The Golden Falcons committed 45 unforced errors.

"We've got some holes in our defense that we're working on rotation-wise, so we'll have to get that cleared up tomorrow (against Hunt)," Burke said. "Rosewood is a good team. They're very aggressive, they're very scrappy."

The Eagles played superb defense and served up five aces in the opening set. They rallied from a three-point, second-set deficit and closed it out on a Golden Falcons' net violation.

Aycock took command midway through the third set behind Schmeltzer and junior Alexis Bynum. Rosewood pulled to within 20-15 on Mercer's ace, but could get no closer.

Rosewood bolted to an 8-1 lead in the final set and never faltered.