Charles City flounders as King & Queen sweeps volleyball match

Charles City's Kaylee Stewart taps the ball over the net on an offensive attack for the Lady Panthers.

Robb Johnson photo

Charles City’s Lady Panthers’ volleyball team came into the season with expectations of improvement. And while they have gotten better on the court, the results on the scoreboard along with being in situations that they haven’t experienced in the past has taught lessons that no practice could simulate.

Charles City fell 16-25, 19-25, 23-25 to the visiting King & Queen Lady Tigers Monday night, resulting in the home team’s fifth consecutive loss.

In the opening set, Charles City and King & Queen played on even terms, with the Lady Panthers slowly creating a lead at 15-12. But the visiting Lady Tigers got hot in the frame, scoring 13 of the next 14 points en route to closing out the first set with a win.

Charles City once again jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second frame and maintained an advantage of 13-10 later on. But similar to the opening set, the Lady Panthers committed several errors that hurt them along the way. King & Queen did not hesitate on the home team’s mistakes, putting together a 15-6 run to close the set out with a win.

In the third stanza, it was Charles City who had their backs against the wall early as they trailed 9-1. But the Lady Panthers began showing resilience, fighting back with a 9-3 run to cut King & Queen’s advantage to two (12-10). King & Queen attempted to stretch the lead out with another run (19-12) but Charles City rode a wave of momentum. Behind a pair of aces from Endya Johnson, Charles City tied the set at 22 apiece. But the swing in the contest could not be sustained, as King & Queen scored the next three points to close out the set, sweeping the match.

After the contest, Charles City Lady Panthers Head Coach Lillani Adkins talked about her team needing to learn to play through pressure moments and tough situations.

“They could have kept the flow of the game going,” she said. “They need to learn short term memory and let little things go.

“From the third set, we learned that they can accomplish this,” Adkins added. “They need to trust themselves and their teammates more.”

Charles City’s record now stands at 4-10.