New Kent Charles City Chronicle

News for New Kent County and Charles City County, Virginia | March 29, 2024

After dropping opening set, New Kent rallies to defeat Tabb

By Robb Johnson | March 23, 2021 1:04 pm

New Kent’s Clara Foster (5) serves up several aces to help score points for the Lady Trojans.

Robb Johnson photo

Sometimes drama and suspense can be a challenged needed to humble a team’s performance. Such was the case for New Kent’s Lady Trojans in Monday night’s volleyball matchup against the visiting Tabb Lady Tigers.

After dropping the first set, New Kent rallied to a 3-1 match victory over their Bay Rivers District rivals with scores of 23-25, 25-16, 25-17, and 25-23 in each set.

In the opening set, New Kent jumped out to an eight-point advantage (13-5) as they imposed their will against Tabb. But the Lady Tigers were able to withstand the early attack, reversing momentum following Sydney Gabriel’s two consecutive aces. Tabb pushed through the opening frame emerging on top by two (23-25).

In set two, Lady Tiger Sarah Callender used her quick-striking ability to frustrate the hosts early on. After New Kent settled down, the disciplined Lady Trojans rebounded with patience and attacking at the proper moments to claim the second set. In the third frame, New Kent’s Aubrey Hyndshaw used precise taps along with aces with teammate Clara Foster to cruise to a 25-17 third set victory.

The hosts struggled in the fourth frame, falling behind by as many as eight (7-15) early on. But New Kent fought through the wall of struggles. Led by Julia Hathaway and Jaiden McCoy, two late kills pulled the hosts within two (21-23). From there, Lady Trojan teammate Darian Mason added two kills, with her final one sealing the match for the hosts.

After the contest, New Kent Lady Trojan head coach Cynthia Burnett talked about the home victory.

“It was not our best match that we played all year, and we had a few unforced errors,” she commented. “But in the end, we pulled it together with a team effort.

“We got our hits when we needed to and we served at critical times,” Burnett added. “Even if we were down, I told the team we can do this if we play our game.”

New Kent improves to 5-1 on the season.