New Kent outlasts Poquoson in five-set marathon thriller

Lady Trojans Katie Ilch (15) and Madison Beasley (22) leap to double block a kill attempt by Poquoson’s Kaylei Haney.

Alan Chamberlain photo

Inability to protect leads in two of the first four sets forced New Kent’s Lady Trojans into a decisive fifth set in Tuesday night’s best-of-five volleyball encounter with Poquoson’s invading Islanders. And even though the hosts blew a four-point advantage in the final set, they got the job done in the end for a 25-27, 25-14, 25-18, 20-25, 17-15 triumph.

“Our problem all year has been that we don’t have the put-away hitters,” said winning coach Cyndi Burnett after her team improved to 13-6. “But I think we got 100 percent of our serves in tonight and that helped us pull this out.”

Unfortunately for the hosts, Poquoson boasted one of those hitters of the “put-away” variety in sophomore Toni-Anne Whitlow. She registered 28 kills for the night including nine in the fifth set to almost single-handedly put the Islanders over the top.

“[Whitlow] was pretty much unstoppable,” said Burnett. “When she was on the front row, nothing good was happening on our side of the net. So I told the girls that once they got three shorter girls on front, that was the time to get our points.”

In the opening set, the Lady Trojans watched a 20-15 lead disappear before falling, but the hosts dominated in the next set and overcame an Islander surge in set three to seemingly take command.

One of Sydney Griffith’s team-high 14 kills for the match broke a 6-6 second set deadlock and put the hosts ahead to stay. Three straight Islander errors to open set three staked the hosts to another lead they would never relinquish, although the visitors closed within two on three occasions.

Then in the fourth set, New Kent appeared on the verge of closing out the match, using service aces from Gina Sledd and Skylar Cossaboon to mount a 13-6 advantage. But the Islanders regrouped, overtaking the hosts at 14-all before grabbing a three-point lead. Katie Ilch’s kill evened the set at 20-20, but the Islanders reeled off five unanswered points to force the fifth.

Ilch and Daysa Jones kills coupled with a Sledd ace opened a 3-0 lead in set five. Whitlow, however, took over at the net with consecutive kills to bolster the Islanders. Back-to-back Griffith kills helped open an 8-4 New Kent lead, but the visitors rallied deadlock.

Jones’ kill put New Kent back on top, but only briefly. The Islanders’ Megan Saetre dropped a back row hit into a soft spot in the Lady Trojan defense, and Whitlow followed with another shot from the back row that landed just inbounds for a 15-14 lead.

But in the end, three straight errors including two committed by Whitlow handed New Kent the win. First, Whitlow drove a serve out of bounds. Next, her back line hit sailed out, putting New Kent in the driver’s seat 16-15. Then, Saetre’s attempt to dink over New Kent’s front line landed in the net to close the affair.

Sledd dished out a season-high 41 assists from her setter’s position while Ilch pounded 10 kills and Jones and Brianne Wayman registered seven apiece. Cossaboon and Rachel Byers paced New Kent’s defense with 21 and 14 digs, respectively.