Eastern Wayne volleyball falls short against Gray's Creek

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on October 18, 2014 11:57 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

Tears streamed down her face as Sara Rice buried her head on a teammate's shoulder.

It wasn't supposed to end this way.

Not her senior year.

But Gray's Creek spoiled Rice and her fellow seniors' aspirations of advancing in the postseason Saturday afternoon. The Bears defeated Eastern Wayne 25-13, 25-15, 25-12 in opening-round play of the N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 3-A volleyball playoffs.

Rice played her final game along with back-row specialist Trisha Bell, setter Casey Young and outside hitter Jenna Rouse. The quartet helped lead the Warriors (7-13 overall) to the postseason for the second consecutive year, and just the sixth time overall in program history.

"I hated that they lost this way, especially for my seniors," first-year EW head coach Jackie Lewis said of her team after the match. "Sara was upset ... couldn't believe she went out like this. I hate it for them, I really do.

"(But) we came out flat and ended flat."

Gray's Creek, the Cape Fear Valley runner-up, created a fast-paced tempo from the opening serve. The Bears (16-8) served short to disrupt the Warriors' offensive rhythm, connected on off-speed shots to neutralize EW's height at the net and built a comfortable 14-6 margin in the first set.

Eastern Wayne struggled to transition from defense to offense throughout each set. The Warriors couldn't overcome 27 errors or Gray's Creek's 15 service aces. Senior Amber Tyndall collected seven of her team-best eight aces in the first two sets.

"Our serve-receive was horrible, we looked like we were lost," Lewis said.

The Bears owned advantages in total kills (27-9) and total blocks (6-1). Sophomore setter Kalee Nelson distributed her match-high 24 assists among six hitters, particularly senior Kaitlan Krivdo, who pounded out 10 kills.

Sophomore Kaytlin Elkins and senior Kristel Black provided five kills apiece.

Gray's Creek head coach Crystal Waddell said the Bears played timid at first and took notice when Eastern Wayne's Naheria Hamilton, the tallest player on the floor, grabbed the basketball nets without standing on her tip-toes.

Once Waddell's team got into its offensive system, it cruised to its fifth playoff win in program history.

"I told them somebody may dig you once, they may dig you twice, but if you stay patient, they're not going to be able to dig out hitters coming from every direction," Waddell said. "If we stay patient, we're going to be a very tough team to defend. They were serious ... came here on a mission.

"I'm proud of them. They executed."