ASKEWVILLE – A young Bethel Christian Academy squad battled Albemarle School here last week.

Unfortunately for the home-standing Lady Eagles, the visiting volleyball squad from Elizabeth City was too much as Albemarle scored a 25-6, 27-25, 25-19 victory.

Things didn’t start well for the Lady Eagles as Albemarle jumped out to an early 4-1 lead. Bethel junior Charitee Dunlow helped stop the spurt momentarily with a dig, but it was the only bright point of the set for Bethel.

Albemarle rolled off the next five unanswered and rolled to an easy 25-6 win.

Set number two was a different story, however, as Bethel jumped out to an early lead. Dunlow again recorded a dig and Carolyn Howerton delivered the first good serve of the set to give the Eagles a 2-0 edge.

The Lady Colts came back to tie the game at 2-all, but a kill By Kelsie Conner gave Bethel the serve back.

Unfortunately, the Lady Eagles couldn’t capitalize on it and Albemarle jumped out to an 8-3 lead.

Bethel got the serve back and Conner made the most of it by recording a dig after her own serve to get the Lady Eagles within 8-5.

Albemarle again began to pull away as they scored the next two points to take a 10-5 lead, but Bethel would not give in.

The Lady Eagles won a defensive point and then turned the ball over to Dunlow, who served three straight that were unreturned, including one ace to get Bethel Christian within 10-9.

The Lady Colts stopped the run, but only momentarily as a winner off the hands of Jessica Perry closed the Lady Eagles back within one (11-10).

Albemarle controlled the next several points and built a 14-10 lead, but again the Lady Eagles used a dig from Conner and a winning shot by Amanda Outlaw to stop the spurt.

The Lady Colts eventually led 16-11, but a kill by Outlaw set up a good run for Bethel as the Lady Eagles won five of the next six points to tie the contest. Conner had a kill during the spurt while Perry had a winning shot and Elizabeth Farmer added a kill to get the game to 17-all.

Kristen Adams had a key dig to keep the Lady Eagles even at 19, a few points later and then a Dunlow ace gave Bethel a 21-20 lead.

The teams battled back and forth with Bethel eventually gaining a 24-22 advantage on a winning shot by Adams.

Albemarle, however, rallied back to tie the contest and eventually secured the hard-fought 27-25 win.

The Lady Colts closed out the victory with a 25-19 victory that wasn’t close until the end.

Albemarle led 24-10, but Bethel scored nine straight before the rally ended.

Dunlow was key on the rally as she served nine straight points, two of which came on aces and another trio which were not returned.

The rally, however, fell short and Albemarle went on to claim the win.