By By KEVIN TRAVIS
Sports Editor
YEATESVILLE — “Whit’s whomps” are becoming more regular, and more ferocious, for the Northside Panthers.
Those “whomps” belong to senior Whitney Lewis, who unleashed 10 kills, one seemingly stronger than the next, in Northside’s 3-0 win over Columbia in Thursday’s prep volleyball action. The Panthers (2-0) picked off the Wildcats 25-20, 25-16, 26-24.
“We were able to get our stuff together,” Lewis said. “We got our hits together and started setting it up more.”
Freshman Jordan Woolard also had a big night for the Panthers. She had four kills and six aces.
“Jordan is great in the back row and front row,” Northside coach Tami Wagaman said. “She will come in real handy once she learns to hit harder. I think she’s going to be a real asset.”
Senior Savanna Boyd were her usual solid self, coming up with four kills, four blocks and three aces.
Northside rallied from a 15-11 deficit in the first game. Lewis used some strong serving to break a 16-16 tie, giving her team a 21-17 lead. Kills by Lewis, Jordan Cooke and Sara Credle helped the Panthers close out the first game.
The Panthers broke open a close second game behind the serving of Rachel Hollowell and Credle, as the duo helped give Northside a 19-10 lead. A Lewis kill capped the game to give Northside a 2-0 edge.
Northside battled back from deficits of 6-1, 11-5 and 17-12 in the third game. A spike by Woolard tied the match at 22-apiece. Columbia managed to take a 24-22 lead, but Boyd’s slam evened things up at 24-all.
Cooke capped the rally with a pair of nifty serves.
“They’re all getting along and that’s why they’ve been able to rally,” Wagaman said. “They’re working together. It’s a good group and they rally together.”
The Panthers, who play at North Pitt on Tuesday, are off to a solid start.
“We’re still trying to work out some kinks on our offense and defense,” Wagaman said. “Two wins — I will never complain about that.”
‘Confident’ Seahawks sweep Pamlico
Williamston takes down North Pitt
By GREG KATSKI
Staff Writer
CHOCOWINITY — If volleyball is a team game, then Southside’s Thursday night sweep of Pamlico was a team effort, according to Seahawks head coach Elizabeth Pruden.
The entire team contributed to Southside’s 25-10, 25-19, 26-24 victory over the helpless Hurricanes at home.
“Today, everybody played great. There wasn’t one big hitter, there wasn’t one setter,” Pruden said. “Everybody was very well-balanced.”
Kristen Ayers set the tone for the Southside volleyball team (2-0) on Thursday night, scoring 12 straight service points to start the first game, including two straight aces. Ayers was helped during the big run with a bog spike from Atyana Starkie to push the early lead to 10-0.
Pamlico finally pushed across the board with a point on a Southside miscue, before Ayers scored another kill for the Seahawks.
The Hurricanes would fight their way back to within 15 at 23-8, but that was the closest they would get. Southside took the first game handily, 25-10.
After the first game, Pruden wasn’t sure what to expect from Pamlico for the rest of the match.
“I was trying to figure out if they were off, if this was their first game,” she said.
If the Hurricanes were off in the first, they made up for it in the second and third games.
Pamlico jumped out to its first lead of the night in the second game behind two service points from Leigh Ward, before the Seahawks came back strong.
Courtney Avery had two kills in a row as Southside ran off six straight points to go up 6-2.
Pamlico came back to tie the game at 6-6, before the Seahawks took the lead for good behind some strong serving from Avery, Caitlan Bogart and Lindsey Mitchell. With her team up 12-9, Mitchell ran off seven straight service points for a 19-10 lead.
Southside let the Hurricanes back into the game at 23-18 thanks to a couple of mishaps, including an illegal serve, but with the Seahawks would maintain control and win 25-19.
In the third, and most highly-contested game of the night, Ayers started Southside off with two straight service points, before Pamlico 6-5. The Seahawks received possession after a sharp spike by the lengthy Renika Hodges in the middle.
The Hurricanes had a healthy lead of 12-9 before Avery came up with a huge block for a Seahawks point. The Seahawks clawed back to 13-11, before Pamlico went on another run helped by a net infraction. With Pamlico up 17-12, Southside scored three straight behind a Bogart kill and Starkie ace. The Seahawks came all the way back to go up 21-20 thanks to five straight service points by Bogart. The teams exchanges scores on bad serves before Ayers had a drop kill for a 24-22 lead. With each team’s crowd roaring and the score tied at 24-24, Pamlico served one out of bounds. In a fitting end to the night, Southside’s Danyella Jedlicka got in on the action with an ace serve for the win.
The Seahawks will finish up a home and home series with the Washington Pam Pack on Monday at Southside. The Seahawks won the first match 25-11, 25-9, 25-15.
Pam Pack tennis wins again
The Washington Pam Pack tennis team improved to 2-0 with a 9-0 sweep of Currituck on Thursday.
Beth Batchelor posted a 6-0, 6-2 win over Kristina Key at No. 1 singles, Hayley Stowe topped Linsey Bull 6-1, 6-0 at No. 2, Janie Page held off Mercedez Rouse 6-0, 2-6 (10-8) at No. 3, Tierra Locklear got past Dori Brooks 6-3, 6-4 at No. 4, Mary Margaret Fowle pulled out a 6-2, 6-3 nod over Krysta Messier at No. 5 and D’Lorah Pierce beat Paige Brooks 7-5, 6-2 at No. 6.
In doubles, Batchelor/Stowe beat Key/Rouse 10-0 at No. 1, Page/Locklear downed Bull/D. Brooks 10-5 at No. 2 and Mary Potocki/Shannon Niederhauser breezed to a 10-2 win over Cece Barnett/Faith Beamon at No. 3.
Coach Beth Pippin felt Thursday’s match was another good confidence builder heading into conference play next week.
Washington also won an exhibition match 8-1. Winning were Niederhauser, Potocki, Samara Romero, Kimberlyn Jones, Erin Stowe, Paige Ingalls, Ashlan Ingalls, Lanie Smith, Emily Hodges, Erica Alligood and Mikaela Jones.
The Pack returns to the court Tuesday at home against West Carteret.
Williamston volleyball downs North Pitt
The Williamston volleyball team beat back the North Pitt Panthers on Thursday night with a strong three-game win — 25-17, 25-9, 25-20.
Standout Katie Paschal had eight kills for the Tigers (2-0), while Heather Jackson had 13 service points and Harris Sheppard had eight.
Williamston returns to action Tuesday with a game at Washington at 4:30 p.m.