League-leading Pine Forest rallies at Triton

by John Lucas | Oct 7, 2022 | Triton

Camryn Conway makes a dig for host Triton on Thursday.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)

Triton’s varsity volleyball team was unable to capitalize on a hot start as visiting All-American 3-A/4-A Conference opponent Pine Forest rallied to win in five sets to stay unbeaten in conference play Thursday. Individual set scores were 14-25, 10-25, 25-23, 25-18 and 15-7.

“Pine Forest is a good team and we knew that coming in,” said Triton coach Sarah Haney. “So, when they started out the first two sets not producing like they normally do, we got ahead and I told them ‘You have to stay in their heads. They are going to do something because they want to win this.’ And when they started producing, we weren’t getting it up.”

The win, along with Harnett Central’s 3-0 loss at Overhills Thursday, clinched the regular season championship for the Trojans (14-7, 12-0 AAC).

Junior Carleigh Hemby had 16 kills, two blocks, six digs and four aces on nine service points, junior Olivia Godwin had 10 kills, six digs and seven aces on 21 service points and freshman Sydney Bradham had a double-double, with six kills, 28 assists, 11 digs and five aces on six service points to lead the Hawks (10-9, 8-4).

Baylee Reagan had five kills, three assists, four digs and one ace on nine service points. Chyna Massey had five kills, four blocks and three digs and held serve for one point. Emma Stanley had two assists, five digs and one ace on three service points. Ava Blackman had two assists and three digs. Camryn Conway had one assist and seven digs and held serve for one point. Aubrie Wise had one assist and six digs and held serve for three points. Virginia Pope had two blocks and three digs. Mary Charlotte Pope had one dig.

S’kya Muwwakkil had 10 kills and one block, Allyson Rouse had 10 kills and Kamari Pemberton had 25 assists and three aces on 10 service points to lead the Trojans.

Triton dominated the first two sets, but Pine Forest rallied to take the last three sets to win the match.

Triton ends the regular season against a pair of conference and county rivals next week, traveling to Overhills (8-8, 6-6) on Monday and hosting Harnett Central (10-9, 9-3) for Senior Night on Tuesday. Pine Forest is at Harnett Central on Monday and at home against Overhills on Tuesday.

“The one thing I told them coming into this game was, ‘I don’t care what the outcome is. I want us to show Pine Forest that we’re not the team that they saw at the beginning of the season,’” Haney said. “Because we’re not. And we needed to show that we could compete with them and show the teams playing next week and going into the conference tournament that we’re a team to be reckoned with.”