Serving, passing lift Lady Trojans to comfortable win

New Kent’s Olivia Foster dives to her knees to dig a Lafayette serve as teammates Rachel Byers and Skylar Cossaboon (2) look on.

Alan Chamberlain photo

With an easier than expected triumph over Lafayette’s invading Rams, New Kent’s Lady Trojans strengthened their grip on second place in Bay Rivers volleyball by virtue of a three-set sweep.

New Kent topped the Rams 25-16, 25-9, 25-10 to improve to 9-1 in the district and 12-3 overall.

The hosts built an 18-12 advantage in the opening set of the Sept. 27 match before Olivia Foster’s five straight service aces secured the win. New Kent scored the first four points in set two and raced away to a 9-1 lead in the final set. Lafayette never posed a significant threat.

“The key tonight was that [Lafayette] never put pressure on us, but we put pressure on them all night,” said Lady Trojan coach Cyndi Burnett.

“Our serving was awesome and our passing was awesome,” she said. “It was just a fun game to watch from the bench.”

Foster delivered seven aces on the night while Ashley Pierce managed six. Karley Allen led in kills with 11 followed by Pierce with six and Jena Williams with five. Gina Sledd dished out 22 assists. On defense, Williams and Allen produced seven digs each while Foster managed six.

“A few times they blocked us, but we were able to get there and pick it up,” Burnett said. “We’ve been working on that and we’ll need to do that going into next week.”

The Lady Trojans took on perennial district contender Grafton Tuesday night and have a showdown at first place Jamestown on Oct. 11.