VOLLEYBALL: Eagles defeat Rebels in close match

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on September 27, 2016 10:10 AM

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A conservative, off-speed shot?

Nah.

Let's put this one away.

Hannah Daniels tooled a kill off a North Duplin block attempt and served a match-clinching ace as Rosewood claimed a 25-27, 26-24, 25-18, 25-23 victory in Carolina 1-A Conference play Monday afternoon.

"I'm never good under pressure," laughed Daniels. "I was really going to go for a push, then just said 'I can do this.' I just went for it."

Daniels cranked out a team-leading 14 kills and posted three solo blocks for the Eagles, who have won six of their last eight after an 0-8 start to the season. Braylee Butts and Toree Marak contributed seven kills apiece.

Ada Rivera and Kaitlyn Kincaid combined for 25 assists.

Rosewood (6-10 overall, 5-3 CC) struggled to develop an offensive rhythm and committed an eye-popping 53 unforced errors. North Duplin (3-7, 2-5) consistently took away the middle and cross-court angles and got a tremendous defensive performance from junior libero Abbey Pate.

Pate finished with 20-plus digs in the four-set affair.

"They showed a lot of heart and their libero played great, thought she was a big-time key to the match," said RHS head coach Jennifer Cochran, who was a defensive specialist in college. "We never really got into a rhythm and it's like that...we're either pulling teeth to try to get them motivated to play, and we're trying.

"It's just the ball doesn't go where we want it to go."

The teams battled through 38 ties and 16 lead changes during the four-set affair.

Daniels' solo block and ace tied the opening set at 24-all. The teams traded sideouts before senior Brooke Cottle delivered a kill and sophomore Taylor Walker capped the set with a solo block.

A mere two points seperated the teams in the second set.

The Eagles earned set point at 24-22 on Daniels' solo block against Kenzie Taylor. The Rebels capitalized on two unforced errors, but another Daniels' kill - this time off Taylor's block attempt - tied the overall match at one apiece.

Rosewood senior Hailey Weeks finished a 5-0, third-set run with back-to-back aces.

The Eagles held as much as a seven-point lead in the fourth set. North Duplin tied it at 23-23 on Abbey Pate's service ace and a Rosewood error before Daniels denied any further thoughts of a comeback.

"I think we put ourselves in position to win sets, we just couldn't get those final points," ND head coach Laura Thornton said. "To be quite honest, to show up and play competitively, I'm just happy that we were in it to win it. Unfortunately, we didn't get those last few points, but that's part of the game.

"I thought the kids played scrappy, they played with heart. I would say this is probably one of the best games our kids have played overall (this season) as far as the entire match."