Ayden-Grifton rolls past North Pitt in volleyball

Ayden-Grifton's Alexia Bryant spikes one over the net during Tuesday's game against North Pitt. Photo by Laieke Abebe / Neuse News

BETHEL — Ayden-Grifton needed a big win to jumpstart their season and certainly got it on Tuesday.

After losing to South Central in their season opener, the Chargers (1-1) bounced back to defeat North Pitt (1-1) in straight sets, 25-7, 25-15, 25-14. Ayden-Grifton used serving, defense and athleticism to its advantage, cruising to victory.

Ayden-Grifton started on a 5-0 run before North Pitt scored four of the next five points. From there, a 19-3 run by the Chargers closed out the set.

“[North Pitt] is in a rebuilding phase,” Ayden-Grifton coach Linda Bryant said. “They lost a lot of really good players from last year, but they’re a scrappy team. We can’t take any opponents for granted. With a team like mine that has six seniors, we had to be focused from the first serve.”

After the Chargers were dominant in the second set, North Pitt played a spirited third set. The final set was even for a short time before Ayden-Grifton took a 12-11 lead and never looked back.

The Chargers would score 13 of the final 16 points to win a matchup that featured two conference regular season champions from a year ago.

“Like last year, we started with a tough loss,” Bryant said about losing to South Central. “However, we ended up not losing again until the playoffs. We want to win a lot of games and I think we certainly can if we work hard.”

Ayden-Grifton goes on the road to face Farmville Central on Wednesday while North Pitt hosts Greene Central on Thursday. Senior Aaleyah Garris led the way with 13 kills for the Chargers.