Kennedy Byrd serves an ace for the SJ Trojans.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)

South Johnston took a 3-1 varsity volleyball win Tuesday to hand visiting Goldsboro its first loss of the season. Individual set scores were 25-14, 18-25, 25-22 and 25-12.

“Other than that second set, I thought we played well,” said South Johnston coach Matthew Adams. “We gave away a lot of points in the second set early on off of hitting errors. It was just a matter of keeping the ball in the court and making them make plays, rather than us giving them so many. I try to encourage them to stop thinking about the mistakes, stop worrying so much and move on to the next point. That’s the only thing you can control is what happens on the next point. What just happened, you can’t do anything about that.”

Junior LeeAnna Hines continued to establish herself as a go-to threat at the net for the Trojans (5-2). She totaled a co-match-high eight kills and a match-high seven blocks.

“Just her athletic ability, she’s tall and she reaches high,” coach Adams said. “If we can pass the ball well enough to run our middle attack, she’s going to get us a kill. Every third swing (resulting in a kill) is what she’s swinging right now for the season. We know that we can count on her to put the ball down. That’s why our setters want to set the ball to her as often as they can, if we get a good enough pass to do that. And when you start running the middle, their middle has to honor that and that starts to open up the pin hitters to get a solo block (in front of them) or even no block. If you can run your middle attack like we’ve been doing, it just helps everybody.”

In addition to LeeAnna Hines’ seven blocks, Savannah Hines and Jenna Brown had two blocks apiece to establish a strong defensive front for South.

“I thought that set the tone,” coach Adams said. “Early in the first set, we had a couple of stuff blocks on their outsides swinging and I thought it really altered what they were doing. They were swinging over the block and hitting it out and swinging it angle and hitting it too far out. There were a lot of mistakes that I think we forced them into because they got blocked a couple of times early on.”

South’s defensive backline was also impressive, as five different players tallied in double digits. Kandis Adams had 16 digs, Jessica Johnson, Callie Sutton and Kennedy Byrd had 11 digs apiece and Carmen Keene had 10 digs.

Katon Blackmon had a co-match-high eight kills, eight digs and two aces on 11 service points. Savannah Hines had six kills and one dig. Adams had five kills and held serve for one point. Brown had three kills, one assist and two digs. Paige Toler had one kill and two digs. Byrd had one kill and led all servers with four aces on 20 service points. Sutton had one kill and held serve for two points. Keene had a match-high 20 assists and held serve for three points. Johnson had 11 assists and one ace on nine service points. Carlye Durham had three digs. LeeAnna Hines had two digs and held serve for seven points. Savannah Hines had one dig.

A pair of freshmen led the Cougars (5-1), as Brianna Moye had six kills and three blocks and Hallie Brown had five kills and three blocks.

Goldsboro started the match with four unanswered points, but South responded with an 8-0 run to take control of the set. South dominated the remainder of the set, leading by as much as 10, at 22-12, and took the 1-0 advantage in the match.

Goldsboro used a 6-2 run to take the early lead in the second set. South kept it close, but could not overcome the lead and the Cougars evened the match at 1-1.

The third set was tied at 17 when the Trojans went on a 7-1 run to hold set point. The Cougars fought off four straight set points before coach Adams called a timeout to regroup. After the timeout, a kill from Savannah Hines, assisted by Johnson, finished off the set.

“I think Savannah is playing as well as she has in her career,” coach Adams said. “That was a big swing to finish the third set. We really needed something and she had a good swing to finish that set off. That’s not something you saw her doing last year. So, a lot of growth on her part and confidence.”

South took control of the fourth set early with a 12-2 run. Goldsboro could not cut the lead to less than eight the rest of the way as the Trojans finished off the match.

South Johnston also won the junior varsity contest 2-0.

South Johnston has a quick turnaround, traveling to Johnston County foe Princeton today (Wednesday, August 29). The Trojans took a 3-0 win at home against the Bulldogs to open the season on Aug. 13.

Jenna Brown (14) and LeeAnna Hines go up to block for South.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)

From left, Katon Blackmon, Kennedy Byrd and Kandis Adams set to receive.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)

Carmen Keene sets for South against Goldsboro.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)

LeeAnna Hines makes a kill for South on Tuesday.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)