Ayden-Grifton’s Alexia Bryant powers the ball over the net, past South Lenoir’s Sara Beth Stroud (1) and Mallory Dawson during Tuesday’s game. Photo by William ‘Bud’ Hardy / Neuse News

By Junious Smith III

DEEP RUN — The streak continues for Ayden-Grifton.

The Chargers rattled off their 20th consecutive Eastern Carolina Conference win, defeating South Lenoir 25-14, 25-21, 25-15 Tuesday. The Blue Devils (8-2, 3-1) came into the game with their best start in more than a decade and gave Ayden-Grifton its last conference loss on Sept. 28, 2017 at home, but couldn’t replicate their success.

“We got the job done so we’ve got to go one more round, play everyone else and the conference championship is ours,” Ayden-Grifton’s Alexia Bryant said.

The teams split the first six points before the Chargers (7-4, 3-0) went on a 4-1 spurt highlighted by a Bryant kill and Aale’Yah Garris block. Emily Dykes’ had consecutive kills to put Ayden-Grifton ahead 11-5, but South Lenoir responded with a 4-0 run, including a Michaela Elmore service ace. A kill from Lyndsay Williams brought the Blue Devils within 14-12, but Dykes and Garris responded with spikes of their own. The Chargers ended up winning the set’s final eight points for the 1-0 advantage.

South Lenoir started the second set strong with aces from Elmore and Jessica Harris, along with blocks from Mallory Dawson and Williams to go up 5-1. The Blue Devils took a 7-3 lead, but the Chargers went on a 7-1 run, including three straight Bryant aces. A kill from Mary Grace Beyer put South Lenoir back up 11-10, but the Chargers had another run — this one 6-0 with three Garris aces — to establish control. Although Thomas’ kill brought South Lenoir within 20-19, the team wasn’t able to catch up.

“(The words were) passion and aggression,” Garris said about the second set. “We just had to bring up our momentum.”

The momentum carried into the third set, as kills from Abby Langemann and Dykes were part of a 4-0 start. South Lenoir scored the next three, but a 10-2 Ayden-Grifton run effectively ended the game as the Blue Devils wouldn’t get closer than six from there.

Chargers coach Linda Bryant said the team is on a mission for a third straight ECC championship.

“This win was very important to the team,” Bryant said. “For two or three years, South Lenoir finished as conference champs and we knew we had to earn it in order to have that position. The girls want to stay on top and while beating South Lenoir was great, we can’t count anyone else out in conference. We have a tough game against North Lenoir (Thursday) and there are other teams in the conference who are capable.”

South Lenoir coach Lisa Smith said the team played well in spurts, but the focus is now on Washington Thursday.

“We made a lot of mistakes, and you can’t do that against a great team like Ayden-Grifton,” Smith said. “When we played our game we were successful, but we didn’t do that the entire time and it cost us.”