LA wins pair
Published 12:00 am Thursday, October 7, 2004
MERRY HILL – Lawrence Academy skipper Gennia Winslow had a simple goal this week.
That goal was to sweep the three games on the slate and get her team ready for the Tarheel Independent Conference tournament.
Two-thirds of that goal is complete as Lawrence knocked off TIC rival Hobgood Academy here in four sets Tuesday after topping non-league foe Rocky Mount Academy by the same count on Monday.
&uot;We served well today,&uot; Winslow said. &uot;There were several distractions because of this being our senior night, but I thought we did a good job of making sure we took care of the business at hand.&uot;
The Lady Warriors didn’t get off to a good start as Hobgood went out to a 4-0 lead.
It was the serve of Lawrence’s only senior that rallied them back to the lead. Catherine Outten hit on eight consecutive points, only two of which were returned.
Junior Morgan Phelps had three consecutive points, two off of aces, a few moments later that lifted Lawrence to a 15-9 advantage.
Ruth Stotesbury also had a key serving streak. The junior had eight straight points, the first of which came when she had an excellent dig to save the point. From there Stotesbury had a pair of aces and used a kill by Lauren Rea to help the Lady Warriors go out to a 24-12 advantage.
Lawrence went on to win the set 25-15.
Set two didn’t go as well for Lawrence as, after racing to a 3-0 advantage, they couldn’t overcome a strong rally from Hobgood.
The Lady Raiders rolled off five consecutive points to deadlock the score at seven-all and stayed in the entire set.
Gabby Layton and Stotesbury each had good serves for Lawrence, but Hobgood rallied for a 25-22 win.
Outten started set three with a pair of points that helped the Lady Warriors get off to the correct start.
Jodi White added a trio of points, one of which came off a kill by Jessica Johnston, to give Lawrence a 6-2 lead.
Johnston then served five straight points, thanks to kills by White and Phelps to give the Lady Warriors a 15-8 advantage.
From there, the Lady Warriors rolled out the set with Katelyn Sexton serving the final three points to give Lawrence a 25-13 win.
In the fourth set, Lawrence used strong serving to take a 25-8 win.
Sexton served the first five points, two of which came off aces. From there, Johnston served seven points, two of which came by aces and two of which came thanks to kills by Phelps and Johnston.
Stotesbury served a trio of points, one of which came on a Johnston kill to give Lawrence a 19-5 edge.
Johnston had another trio of points to help close out the set.
Johnston led the way serving with 17 of 19 good serves while Outten had 15 of 17 and Stotesbury had 12 of 13. Phelps was 13 of 15 with eight aces.
White led the way with seven kills while Johnston had six and Phelps four.
&uot;This was an emotional day with it being senior night,&uot; Outten said after the match. &uot;While I was thankful for being recognized since I’m the only senior, it was far more important to win.&uot;
On Monday, the Lady Warriors won 25-14, 25-16, 23-25 and 25-17 over Rocky Mount.
Against Rocky Mount, Outten had 24 of 29 serves, including 12 in a row at one point during the second set. Phelps also had a solid day with nine of 12 while Stotesbury was nine of 13.
White had 14 kills on the day while Rea added 12 and Johnston had nine.
The Lady Warriors will host Pungo Christian Academy Thursday.