Warhill serving topples New Kent

New Kent's Sydney Griffith (13) blocks a spike by Warhill's Cari Clifton as teammate Madison Beasley leaps to assist.

Alan Chamberlain photo

Problems handling serves on the part of New Kent’s host Lady Trojans loomed as a fatal flaw in Tuesday’s volleyball match with Warhill’s Lions. As the contest wore on, Lion serving dominance rose, propelling the visitors to a straight set 27-25, 25-14, 25-10 triumph.

“We couldn’t pass the ball,” Lady Trojan head coach Cyndi Burnett said concerning the Lions’ service accuracy that made it difficult to get the ball to her team’s setters.

“They started picking on some of our people and the more they picked, the worse it got. We just couldn’t run our offense,” she said.

The opening set, however, proved competitive with New Kent poised to win on two occasions. The Lady Trojans stood a point away at 24-22 and later at 25-24 to claim the set but couldn’t close the deal.

“We should have won that first set,” Burnett said. “I think we kind of took them by surprise. I was very impressed with our digs and our blocking was awesome, but we just had trouble on the offensive end.”

Four Megan Harrigan aces helped stake Warhill to a 6-1 lead in the second set. New Kent never got closer than three. And in the third set, the hosts, now 5-4, struggled just to reach double digits.

For the match, New Kent managed just 16 kills, led by Madison Beasley’s six. On defense, Sydney Griffith posted a team-high in blocks with four while Beasley recorded three. Paige Simpson led the Lady Trojans in digs with 15 followed by Millie Rudolph’s 10.