Grafton exudes dominance in sweeping Lady Trojans in volleyball contest

New Kent’s Hannah Perkins (10) sets the ball for teammate Leah Rounds (7) for a Lady Trojans’ spike attempt.

Robb Johnson photo

Trouble with serving and facing a powerful opponent kept New Kent’s Lady Trojans in check as they fell in straight sets to the visiting Grafton Lady Clippers in Oct. 3 volleyball action 11-25, 19-25, 11-25.

From the onset, Grafton established dominance, jumping out to a 17-5 advantage before cruising to the victory. In the second set, New Kent’s Lexi Powell went down with an injury, but her teammates used that and energy from the crowd to fight back.

Trailing by nine (19-10), Grafton began making errors with New Kent capitalizing. New Kent’s Fallon Greenawalt, Leah Rounds, and Courtney Carter helped rally the team within five (24-19). But facing set points, an error by the hosts allowed the Lady Clippers to capture the frame.

In the third stanza, the visitors began overwhelming New Kent. Grafton began moving the defense of the hosts around on the floor, attacking in vacated spots and eventually seizing the win and the match.

After the contest, New Kent Lady Trojans Head Coach Stuart Burnett admitted that learning will be a process for this team.

“It comes down to where we are at the end of October,” he commented. “My concern is losing a player who has had a few good matchers in a row.

“We also need to work on our serving,” Burnett continued. “It’s not consistent or aggressive. Serving gives us an advantage to what we want to do. We are an older team than we were last season so I was hoping the experience would show more. But for now, we just have to keep working every day.”

New Kent’s record falls to 7-9 on the season.