Despite improvement, Lady Panthers suffer setback to West Point

Lady Panther Jaelah Wyatt eyes down the ball to set up a successful dig to return the ball.

Andre' Jones photo

Despite a season filled with injuries and a steep learning curve, Charles City’s Lady Panthers volleyball team continues to improve.

But despite a noticeable competitive nature, the host Lady Panthers fell to visiting West Point’s Lady Pointers 25-15, 25-18, 25-13 in an Oct. 24 Tidewater District clash.

Charles City fell behind early in the first set 6-0 before a mild rally behind serves by Kylee Brinkley and Jaelah Wyatt cut the deficit to four (16-12). However, an ace by West Point’s Dawn Carlton sparked a 9-2 run by the visitors to claim the opening stanza.

Charles City jumped out 3-0 to initiate play in the second set thanks to Keanna Motley’s serves and finding opening spaces in the visitor’s defense. But the Lady Pointers rebounded and tied the game up at eight apiece and pulled ahead to stay with a five-point streak to distance themselves and claim the set. Charles City kept the pace up in the third battle, trailing West Point 9-7 before the Lady Pointers revved up the pace of the contest, orchestrating a 11-1 run to put the game out of reach.

After the contest, Lady Panthers head coach Jessica Hornsby talked about the growth her team has exhibited over the season.

“I am very proud of them,” she said. “We have learned to calm down and not panic when things don’t go our way.

“Right now we got to move a little bit more and I believe this will be a strong unit,” Hornsby added.

One thing that the head coach said she has to address is the physical strength of this team.

“We have a mixture of girls who have a lot of power and some of them need some more,” the coach commented. “We have been working on drills of balancing power with control and I know they’ll get there.”

Charles City’s record drops to 5-12 on the season.