Warriors make it an even dozen

By Thadd White (Contact) | Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald

Published Tuesday, September 22, 2009

MERRY HILL – Lawrence Academy continued their unbeaten run, but not without a push from Pungo Christian Academy.

The Lady Warriors took a four-set volleyball matchup Thursday at home, but not before the Lady Raiders pushed them in games two and four.

“We served pretty well today,” said Lawrence Academy Head Volleyball Coach Dr. Ed Clouse. “I thought we were flat-footed in the second game and that could be because of another week of back-to-back-to-back matches.”

Lawrence ran out to an easy win in the first game, outscoring PCA 25-10, but the Lady Raiders bounced back to take game two 25-16. The Lady Warriors then won games three (25-11) and four (25-17).

The Lady Warriors jumped out early during the first game as Ashtyn Mizelle rolled off three straight serves including an ace to push Lawrence ahead 11-5. Two points later, Melissa White recorded her first kill of the match to help start another Warrior rally.

This time it was Taylor Sexton who took the serve and rolled off 10 straight points. Sexton got help with Jennifer White recording two kills during the stretch and Melissa White recording one as Lawrence took a 22-6 lead.

Pungo’s Jordan Dunbar got them back in with a pair of good serves, but Lawrence took over again and won the game on an Ashton Lyle kill.

In the second game, the Lady Raiders came out as the aggressors early and held off Lawrence for the victory in that set.

The second game started with an ace by PCA’s Jodi Rose but then the teams exchanged rallies. Lawrence edged ahead 5-2 behind the serving of Lyle, but the Lady Raiders came right back as Tess Smithwick hit back-to-back serving points to tie the game at 5-all.

A kill by Allison Armstrong gave PCA the lead at 7-6 later in the match and then the Lady Raiders got a pair of kills by Smithwick as they opened their lead to 11-8. The lead stayed near three points until late in the match when Smithwick rolled off three straight points thanks in part to another Armstrong kill to give the Lady Raiders an 18-14 advantage.

Allie Gibbs served five straight points moments later to give Pungo a 24-15 lead and they went on to a 25-16 victory.

As the two teams switched sides of the net for game three, the momentum must have stayed in place as this time the Warriors jumped out to an early lead and rolled to victory.

Mizelle had a kill on the opening two points which were served by Melissa White and Lawrence led 2-0. After a PCA score, Casey Belch won the serve with her kill and then proceeded to serve seven unanswered points for Lawrence. Lyle had three kills during that stretch and Belch added one of her own as the Lady Warriors surged ahead 10-2.

After regaining the serve, Lyle rolled off five straight thanks to back-to-back kills from Jennifer White.

Two points later, Jennifer White recorded another kill after a Mizelle serve and the Lady Warriors led 18-4.

Gibbs served three straight for the Lady Raiders to close the gap to 18-8, but that was as close as the match got. Lawrence closed it out with a kill from Belch as they won game three 25-11.

Game four appeared to be another blow out as Lawrence jumped out to an early 19-6 lead, but Pungo rallied late before falling 25-17.

Belch again was the leader for the Lady Warriors as she served 12 straight points after Lawrence trailed 3-0 to give the Lady Warriors a 13-2 lead. Mizelle and Belch each had kills during the run and Belch recorded two aces.

Smithwick tried to rally PCA with a kill and ace back-to-back to close the gap to 15-6, but Lawrence got a kill from Jennifer White and an ace from Mizelle to go back out in front 19-6.

Armstrong took over the match during the next four points, recording two kills and two blocks as the Lady Raiders closed to within 19-11. The match went back-and-forth until Belch recorded a pair of kills to give Lawrence the momentum as they won 25-17.

“Ashton Lyle played extremely well today,” Dr. Clouse said. “She had seven blocks and six kills and that was important. I also thought Casey hit the ball well as did Jennifer White.”

The Lady Warriors are 12-0 overall with the win and 5-0 in the Tarheel Independent Conference. The Lady Warriors will host Ridgecroft at 4 p.m. Thursday.

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