New Kent-Jamestown

New Kent’s Lady Trojans stunned second-seeded Jamestown with a 25-21 win in game one of their Nov. 1 Bay Rivers District volleyball tournament semifinal match.

But the host Eagles recovered, sweeping the next three games 25-18, 25-10, and 25-19 to knock the third-seeded Lady Trojans out of the tourney.

Despite the loss, New Kent advanced to the Region I tournament to face Courtland, but fell in four games. The Lady Trojans finished at 15-8.

Four New Kent players earned All-Bay Rivers District status led by first team selection Rachel Day. Sharda Braxton and Casey O’Leary were named to the second team while Hillary Metheny received honorable mention.

Against Jamestown, New Kent wiped out a 16-13 Eagle lead in game one behind a pair of Ashton Wallace kills and a shot by Hillary Metheny. The visitors then broke the final 20-20 deadlock on a Braxton kill.

Karianne Burcham’s service kill triggered a 3-0 run for a 24-20 advantage before the final point came New Kent’s way on an out of bounds serve by the Eagles.

Jamestown, however, fought back despite giving up the first three points in game two on shots by Braxton and Wallace. The Eagles caught the visitors at 7-7 and added the next five points in pulling away. New Kent never recovered.

The Eagles vaulted to a 6-0 advantage in game three. Braxton broke the Eagle run, but the hosts went on a 6-0 tear for a 13-1 lead and never looked back.

A Braxton kill off a Day assist opened the fourth game, but again Jamestown surged into a 6-1 lead and later led 9-2. New Kent rallied as Braxton’s play at the net and Burcham’s serve helped narrow the gap to 15-12, but the Lady Trojans were unable to pull closer the rest of the way.

“[Jamestown’s] offense was better tonight,” New Kent coach Cyndi Burnett said. “We got our serves in, but we really weren’t that aggressive.

“Everything we did didn’t work and everything they did worked,” she said. “We were struggling the make things work. I felt we were a couple of hitters short of hanging with them.”