Charles City wins opening set, but Carver Academy sweeps next three

Charles City's Janiya Washington is able to position herself to set up a teammate.

Andre' Jones photo

Charles City’s Lady Panthers found themselves in control of an Oct. 10 Tidewater District volleyball match against the visiting Carver Academy Lady Wolverines. But what propelled the hosts to have the early upper hand factored into their downfall later on.

Charles City fell 27-25, 18-25, 22-25, 16-25 to Carver Academy, thus keeping the home team winless and allowing the Lady Wolverines to sweep the season series.

In the opening set, Carver raced out to an early 4-0 advantage, holding off the Lady Panthers for most of the frame. But an ace by Charles City’s Kayla Luellen began a climb for the hosts. Bryshia Lewis’ serves sparked a 4-0 run to put the hosts ahead 18-15.

But Carver crept back into the contest, with an ace by Lady Wolverine Asia Couch tying the game. Two points later and Charles City was pushed to the brink of dropping the opening frame. However, the Lady Panthers battled back to tie the score at 24 apiece. After both sides exchanged an additional point, two serves by the hosts’ Alexis Williams helped find the mark as Charles City claimed the first stanza.

Strong communication in the next set proved vital for the hosts, as Lewis’ kill sparked another run for the Lady Panthers to cut the deficit to one (12-11). But the voices on the floor became more silent from the hosts, as Carver rebounded to orchestrate an 8-2 run before winning set number two and tying the match score up at one apiece.

In the third frame, both teams remained close in a competitive back-and-forth battle. Luellen’s ace provided a three point advantage (21-18) to the hosts.

But Carver Academy started to execute more consistently, forcing the Lady Panthers into mental errors and running into each other. A spike by Lady Wolverine Alexis Jackson proved to ice the frame from the visitors.

The Lady Panthers looked to rebound in set four, trailing the visitors 12-10 before a meltdown and frustration finally took their toll. Carver put together a 9-1 scoring spree, with JaSeairra Turner’s ace being one of the final scores to put enough distance between the guests and hosts to end the contest.

Lady Panther head coach Vickie Williams had very few words after the game.

“I’m proud of the way we played, but we have to call for the ball more,” she simply said in regards to communicating on the floor.
Charles City’s record falls to 0-15.