PREP VOLLEYBALL: Goldsboro overcomes 55 errors, stops Rosewood

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on August 17, 2018 5:51 AM

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By RUDY COGGINS

rcoggins@newsargus.com

Another step forward.

But Goldsboro has some cleaning up to do on the volleyball court.

The Cougars overcame 55 unforced errors to claim a 25-27, 25-20, 25-23, 25-18 victory over county rival Rosewood inside Norvell T. Lee Gym on Thursday evening.

"Right now, we're standing in our way," Goldsboro head coach TJ Lancaster said. "When you do have that many [errors] and you still pull it out, you go 'I'll take the win.'

"We've still got some stuff to do because we're no where near our potential. All 11 players and both coaches are on the same page. We got the win ... but ... there is still more we can do."

The Eagles (0-3 overall) experienced a similar fate Wednesday.

They took the opening set against Charles B. Aycock, but left Pikeville with a 3-1 loss.

"The first set, it looked like we knew what we were doing and the second set we hung with them [CBA], and lost," RHS head coach Wade Johnson said. "We did the same thing here. We'd get up and hang with them, but several mistakes in a row tonight ... just fall to pieces."

Rosewood, which accumulated 32 unforced errors of its own, grabbed a five-point lead in the early stages of the opening set.

Goldsboro (2-0) pecked away at the deficit and eventually tied it at 17-all when freshman middle hitter Hallie Brown tooled an off-speed hit off of a solo block by Rosewood's Miyah McCall.

The Cougars moved ahead 21-17 before the Eagles scrapped to deadlock the match twice at 24-24 and 25-25. Junior outside hitter Laine Marak and freshman middle Katie Smith closed out the set with back-to-back kills.

Kaitlyn Kincaid supplied the assists on the plays.

"It seemed like, when we needed to, we dug it and brought it back," Johnson said.

Goldsboro built an eight-point lead and hardly surrendered its advantage in the second set.

Amber Pfennig's kill off of Riley Howell's assist capped a 25-20 win.

Like they did in the first set, the Eagles grabbed a six-point lead in set three.

Brianna Moye's solo block against Rosewood's Lana Nuwara tied the set at 13-13.

The teams battled to ties at 17-17, 18-18 and 20-20 until the Cougars polished off the visitors with a 5-3 run. Pfennig's kill down the line sealed the outcome.

"Both teams had a lot of heart because there were long plays," Johnson said.

Howell dished out 13 of her game-high 39 assists in the fourth set on 16 kills. Moye (seven kills) and Grace Tart combined to serve six aces, while Haley Phillips delivered one ace.

A senior, Howell tied her single-match career high and extended her double-digit assists streak to 40 matches.

Goldsboro had 50 kills on the night.

"It's another step for us," Lancaster said. "We dropped the first set again, talked about that yesterday in practice ... about starting faster. The girls brought it up. We don't want to dig ourselves a hole. We got in another one, but we were able to work out of it.

"It's good to fight back and get it, and finish in four. I'm pleased with that."