North Lenoir claims three-set victory over league rival Greene Central
North Lenoir's Jackie Avila prepares to set up a teammate in Tuesday's game against Greene Central. Photo by William ‘Bud' Hardy / Neuse News
SNOW HILL — Greene Central head volleyball coach Emily Nelson jotted down her lineup for the second set, put the pencil down and headed toward her bench.
Several Rams sipped from water bottles after a emotionally-draining, opening-set loss to Eastern Carolina 2-A rival North Lenoir on Tuesday evening.
"It is what it is," Nelson said to her team. "They had a couple of good hits [at the end]. Y'all played hard. We are not done. Can we all agree on that?"
The players nodded.
But North Lenoir, particularly hitters Paytyn Jones and Reena Parris, displayed a strong desire to keep a remarkable streak intact against Greene Central. Jones and Parris combined for 25 of the Hawks' 31 team kills in a 29-27, 25-23, 25-18 victory.
The Hawks have triumphed in all 27 meetings since 2007.
"We fought through it," NL head coach Heather Carson said. "They [the Rams] didn't back down at all. They kept fighting. We found the pieces finally and we started putting them together.
"When we have a team down, we've got to go ahead and put them away."
Kanijah Taylor, NL's starting middle hitter, missed the game due the death of her mother. Bella Dail filled the void admirably and produced on key points in each set, mostly on defense, which proved to be the Hawks' strong suit along with serving
Carson's team communicated, moved well off the ball and covered the floor like a blanket on defense. At the line, NL served up 13 aces, including seven in the final set. Jones logged a team and match-high seven aces.
Greene Central (6-11, 1-6 EC 2A) didn't go quietly.
The Rams trailed 23-19 in the first set, but tied it at 24 on Madylyn Radford's kill. The teams batted to deadlocks at 25, 26 and 27 before the Hawks pulled away on a GC attack error and Jones' set-clinching kill down the line off of Jackie Avila's assist.
North Lenoir (9-6) built a nine-point advantage in set two, only to see the Rams climb to within a point on three separate occasions. An unforced error allowed the Hawks to escape and seize a two-set advantage.
Nelson's team fell behind by 10 points in the third set and couldn't recover.
"The girls worked hard, they pushed, they wanted it," Nelson said. "The second set, they lost a little bit, but came back. It's something that scares me, but they did well with it. They had worked hard in the first set and by the third set, they were tired and that's okay because they did push.
"They tried."
Radford led the Rams with nine kills. Six-foot-one sophomore middle hitter Angel Hill posted four blocks and three kills.
