Allie Stewart (right) of South sets for Caroline Tucker on Tuesday.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)
South Johnston opened varsity volleyball season with a 3-0 win over visiting Harnett Central by scores of 25-20, 25-23 and 25-20 on Tuesday.
“We will take it,” said South Johnston coach Matthew Adams. “As always, when you’re playing the first game of the season, you see a lot of things that you need to work on. But, at the end of the day, we’re happy to get a win against a team that won their conference last year and went to the third round of the state playoffs. And 1-0 feels good.”
Harnett Central coach Ashley Gaines said her team has several new faces in new positions, but she saw positives during the match.
“We had some different changes happen to our team over the weekend,” Gaines said. “We lost one, and so we had to regroup in practice yesterday and put some people in places that have never played there. I’ve got two freshmen on varsity that are in the starting lineup. We’re still making those early-on errors. But, it’s early in the season and they’re young. That wasn’t our best volleyball, but there was a lot of positive that came out of it.”
Lannah Price had 10 kills and senior Jordyn Brown had nine kills to lead the homestanding Trojans (1-0).
“It definitely helps to have Jordyn back,” Adams said. “Lannah is a sophomore with a year of varsity experience. We moved her from the middle to the outside to get more swings. The two of them are going to carry the load for us offensively.”
Caroline Tucker had three kills, three blocks, one dig and one ace on two service points. Brooke Winborne had two kills, one block and one dig. Laina Moore had one kill and three digs. Allie Stewart had seven assists, four digs and two aces on six service points. Meagan Worley had seven assists, one block and four digs and held serve for four points. Madison Carter had seven assists, one dig and four aces on eight service points. Kenzie Adams had one assist, one dig and one ace on five service points. Price had six digs and three aces on six service points. Brown had five digs and one ace on eight service points. Logan Collins had three digs and held serve for five points. Faith Collins had three digs and held serve for two points. Laley Norman had one dig and held serve for two points.
Allie Williams had five kills, one block, nine digs and four aces on 10 service points, Ava Faucette had five kills and Carlie Love had 17 assists to lead the visiting Trojans (0-1).
“There’s not many girls who do the job like (Love) does,” Gaines said. “There’s not many girls that have hands like she does, that connect with hitters like she does. And there’s not many setters that care about her hitters like she does. I’m really looking forward to seeing what she does the rest of the season.”
Kelsey Cofield had four kills, one block and two digs. Savannah Bain had three kills, three digs and two aces on six service points. Mya Lewis had two kills, one assist and two blocks. Ashley Bliven had eight digs and held serve for one point. Love had four digs and two aces on seven service points. Novie Womack had four digs and two aces on five service points. Faucette had two digs and two aces on eight service points. Victoria Langdon had two digs.
Central jumped out to an early 6-1 lead in the opening set, but later in the set, with Central leading 13-7, a Price kill, assisted by Worley, started South on a 14-3 run to take 21-16 lead. South held the lead the rest of the way and later ended the set with a Tucker ace.
With the score tied 6-6 in the second set, South used a 9-1 run to pull away. But Central responded with a Williams kill, assisted by Love, starting an 11-3 run to take a 19-18 lead. But later in the set, with the score tied 23-23, South took the set on a pair of Central errors.
South built an early 19-9 lead in the third set. Central rallied with an 11-4 run to cut the lead to 23-20, but back-to-back kills from Winborne and Price, both assisted by Stewart, gave South the set and the match.
South Johnston and Harnett Central will meet again at Harnett Central as part of a tournament that also includes Garner at Harnett Central on Thursday.
Carlie Love sets for visiting Harnett Central at South Johnston.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)
Ava Faucette delivers a kill for Harnett Central.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)
Novie Womack serves an ace for Harnett Central.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)
Lannah Price goes up for a kill for South Johnston in a 3-0 win.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)
Jordyn Brown swings for a kill for host South Johnston.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)
Faith Collins makes a dig for South Johnston.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)
Kelsey Cofield goes up for a kill for Harnett Central.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)
