Youthful Lady Trojans victorious in volleyball season opener

New Kent forms a fierce triple wall with defenders (l to r) Mattie Thornton, Kaitlyn Claytor, and Jenna Helt challenging the spike attempt of York’s Merissa Evans (7). The trio successfully thwarted the shot and earned a point for the Lady Trojans.

Andre' Jones photo

With five starters graduated from last year’s squad, New Kent Lady Trojan head volleyball coach Cyndi Burnett said this year’s team has a different dynamic. An Aug. 30 contest for the youthful group helped Burnett to see how they’d react in a game environment.

Through guidance of returning players, New Kent propelled themselves to a 25-16, 22-25, 25-18, 25-14 victory over the visiting York Lady Falcons to win their opening contest of the season.

Both teams exchanged scores from the onset of the opening frame. But the hosts pushed an 18-13 lead to a 10-point advantage thanks to six straight successful serves from Sierra Hellbrandt. That momentum helped the hosts take a 1-0 lead.

But the feisty Lady Falcons made amends in set number two. Four New Kent unforced errors quickly placed the hosts in a 4-0 deficit. Then the Lady Trojans had to counter a York offense ran through the duo of Aniyah Hubert and Merissa Evans. Evans and Hubert would account for a majority of the points for the visitors in the second set, including a key spike by Evans after New Kent closed the gap to one (22-21) late in the frame. Her score catapulted the visitors to knot the sets at one apiece.

Third set action revealed the emergence of two returning Lady Trojans. Zoe Smith and Kaitlyn Claytor’s contributions motivated the hosts. With New Kent up by only two (16-14) midway through the set, Smith’s three kills set up by returning libero Jada Evans pushed the margin to five (20-15) and eventually a set win (25-18). That momentum carried into the fourth set as the Lady Trojans jumped out 5-1 on York. And while York whittled the contest down to one, it was another spike by Smith and Claytor’s kill and floater conversion that gave the host breathing room. That duo accounted for nine of the last 12 points for the victorious Lady Trojans.

After the contest, Burnett commented about the new makeup of this year’s Lady Trojans team.

“We have a lot of new players, a lot of new faces, and just a bunch of new everything,” she said. “They blended in really well tonight.”

The victorious head coach also said the second frame was a key moment to see how her team responded to adversity.

“In that set we had a mental letdown,” Burnett continued. “I think we made some good adjustments and looked a lot better in those final sets.

“Zoe and Kaitlyn are very athletic and they have been working hard since they’ve been playing varsity,” the head coach added. “Jada’s passing was on the money tonight and I think these ladies will motivate and give this team that extra boost of motivation when it’s needed.”

New Kent improves to 1-0 on the year.