Late-match penalty sparks Golden Falcons

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on September 17, 2014 1:48 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

PIKEVILLE -- Injuries and tough calls have hounded Charles B. Aycock on the volleyball court in recent weeks.

The Golden Falcons caught a break Tuesday evening.

An illegal substitution sparked a match-ending 7-3 run and capped a 31-29, 25-20, 22-25, 25-22 victory over county and Eastern Carolina 3-A/4-A Conference rival Eastern Wayne.

Casey Young's kill off of Jenna Rouse's assist put the Warriors in front, 19-17, in the fourth set. CBA head coach Emily Burke called timeout and before the teams could return to the court, a discrepancy was found in the scorebook.

An Eastern Wayne player had not officially checked into the game before the timeout and had to leave the court before play resumed. The infraction cost the Warriors a point, gave the sideout to the Golden Falcons and they immediately tied the set 19-19 on Courtney Warner's kill off of Abbie Walton's assist.

"It happened to us at Farmville Central," Burke said. "Things like that happen at an unfortunate time, and fortunately for us, it worked out in our favor. Our girls used that as something to fire them up.

"They (EW) created the momentum for us, we took it and ran with it."

An attack error and a defensive miscommunication on Trisha Bell's monster dig off Warner's kill boosted Aycock's advantage to 21-19. The teams traded sideouts until Arlanda Faulkner sealed the outcome with an overpass kill on match point.

"There was too much going on both off the court and on the court, too much excitement," first-year EW head coach Jackie Lewis said. "We need to stay focused on the game, play our game, talk to each other, move to the ball ... we were very flat-footed on our feet tonight."

The Golden Falcons (4-6 overall, 2-4 ECC) controlled the tempo and easily coaxed the Warriors into numerous transition balls throughout the four-set affair. Eastern Wayne struggled to get into its offensive system and couldn't adjust to the slow pace.

Aycock owned a 37-34 advantage in total kills, including a nine-kill effort by junior tri-captain Alexis Bynum. Quanika Lofton contributed six kills, while setters Morgan Foss and Walton combined for 30 of the team's 33 assists.

Rouse logged a double-double, 11 kills and 11 assists, for the Warriors. Junior Naheria Hamilton provided eight kills and six blocks. Chelsea Wynn posted three kills, four blocks and three service aces.

The Warriors had 51 total errors.

"We showed up ready to play today," said Burke, whose team snapped a three-match skid despite 40 errors, including nine at the service line.

"The difference was our mentality and attitude. Obviously there are still some things to work on, but we need to be happy with the win because we needed one."