Harnett Central guaranteed itself a finish of no worse than a tie for third in the Tri-County Six 3-A Conference varsity volleyball standings by fighting back after a slow start to take a 3-1 win over Harnett County and conference rival Triton on Tuesday.

Individual set scores were 21-25, 25-12, 25-14 and 25-21..

The Hawks hosted the match at Coats-Erwin Middle School as storm damage is repaired at Triton’s gym

“Beating Triton is always big, especially senior year,” said Harnett Central senior Lyndsey Brewer. “The past few years, they’ve beat us, so it feels really good to come out on top tonight.”

“We went back to the way we were playing before the hurricane,” said Triton coach Wendy Simmons. “Just mental mistakes. Too many errors. We gave them way too many points. They earned some, yes, but we gave them a lot of points, too. We’ve got to quit giving teams points.”

Harnett Central coach Jason Harrell cited adjustments to Triton’s serving as a major key.

“They came out serving the ball well,” Harrell said. “They were killing us and we couldn’t get out of serve receive. We just made adjustments and finally were able to read the serves a little bit and get out of serve receive. That’s what saved us was getting out of serve receive. They can serve the ball really well and we just struggled. But it came together and things started rolling our way. Volleyball is momentum. Momentum started going our way and it just started rolling from there.”

After starting the season 2-9, including 0-3 in conference play, Central is currently on a five-match win streak.

Defense was a key factor for the Trojans (7-9, 5-3 TCSC). Junior libero Alexis Gordon had 17 digs, senior Ally Honeycutt had 13 digs, senior Kylee Frailey had 12 digs and senior Shelbie Gill had 14 digs to lead Central’s defensive efforts.

“Tonight, our defense really played well as a unit,” Harrell said. “Our back row was incredible. Front row, Syniah (McMiller) and Lyndsey were incredible, blocking like crazy. It was rough that first set and then things just kind of came together for us.”

Sophomore Syniah McMiller recorded a double-double, with 12 kills and 10 blocks, both match-high totals, Brewer had 11 kills, Honeycutt had 10 kills (also giving her a double-double) and senior Katelyn Everette had a match-high 33 assists to lead Central’s front line.

Frailey had eight kills and one ace on seven service points. Everette had two kills and eight digs and held serve for seven points. Gordon had one kill and two assists and held serve for three points. Gill had three assists and held serve for nine points. Laurie Blackwell had one assist and five digs and held serve for two points. Brewer had one block, three digs and one ace on 14 service points. Honeycutt had one ace on 10 service points.

Senior Ella Layn had nine kills and 12 digs, junior Tyler Grace Gamblin had 24 assists, senior Evie Pollard had four blocks and sophomore libero Gracyn Slaughter had a match-high 21 digs to lead the Hawks (8-12, 3-5).

Hannah Jackson had seven kills, one block and two digs. Addie Matthews had three kills and four digs and held serve for four points. Pollard had three kills, two digs and two aces on two service points. Breighanna Hobbs had two kills, two assists, one block, 10 digs and two aces on six service points. Gamblin had one kill and six digs and held serve for three points. Slaughter had one kill and two aces on six service points. Bethany Norris had one kill and one block. Layn had one block and two aces on six service points. Alexis Howard had 12 digs. Sarah Phillips had one dig.

Holding a 6-5 lead in the first set, Triton went on a 7-1 run to take control of the set. Central fought back late, holding off three set points to cut it to 24-21, but a Hobbs block ended the set.

Central dominated the next two sets. In the second, the Trojans held a 9-7 lead when they took full control with a 13-2 run. In the third, the Trojans held an 11-10 lead before finishing the set on a 14-4 run.

“We came out really flat,” Brewer said. “We tend to do that sometimes, but once we got the ball rolling and got it all together we continued that into the next couple of sets. We kept the intensity up and stayed up. Then they got down and it made it easier for us to stay up.”

Triton regrouped in the fourth set, which was closely contested throughout. With the score tied at 21, the Trojans ended the match with a 4-0 run, capped by a McMiller kill, assisted by Everette.

Harnett Central won the junior varsity match, 2-0.

Harnett Central is at home against conference leader Union Pines and Triton hosts Lee County for Senior Night Thursday. Triton’s match will be played at Cape Fear Christian Academy on Thursday.

Triton and Central will end the regular season facing one another again at Harnett Central on the Trojans’ Senior Night on Monday.