A series of strong rallies highlighted the afternoon, causing the Lancers to let a set slip away in Saturday’s victory.
LCC defeated Wytheville Community College, 3-1 (25-7, 25-17, 15-25, 25-15) as the Wildcats played only their second game of the season. It took two sets for WCC (0-2) to snap into action, and when it did, it gave LCC a problem.
Wytheville coach John Dawson made adjustments in the back row to combat Lancers hits --- and it worked. Left back Kayla King recorded 14 total digs, and the Wildcats continued to hookup for big scoring plays as WCC won Set 3, 25-15. WCC also challenged Lancers attacks from nearly every spot on the court.
The final set also featured rallies as the Lancers (3-5) tried to retain their momentum. The ball handling errors WCC committed early in the game reappeared to help LCC drive it home. Lancer Deshona Cox’skill ended the “chaos,” as coach Shelly Barnes called it.
“It was … a test to see can they focus,” she said. “In the third set, we’re looking at a lot of things. We’re looking at a lot of playing in new positions. I think they did fine, and some of them were nervous playing in a position they don’t normally play in.”
She said the Lancers have been struggling to focus in practice, so Wytheville’s near-comeback was a good lesson. Barnes said the position changes were intentional and will help them down the road.
Dawson said his team capitalized when LCC coaches played second-stringers.
“The first two games, (LCC) smoked us. But the third and fourth (sets), we played a lot better,” he said. “I think we’ll keep getting better. We’re not real tall, but we’ve got four girls who can really jump.”
Wytheville tallied 16 kills in the loss, while Lancer outside hitter Elaina Price led LCC with nine out of 32 total LCC kills. The Lancers recorded 32 assists in the win and all but two had a dig. Most digs were made in the third and fourth sets, with LCC freshman Annie Thi leading all with 20. She also had 26 service points to lead the Lancers.
“I just work hard because how you practice is how you play,” Thi said. “As a team we work together, we communicate and we do our best to play with our heart. I think we have room for improvement and hopefully everyday we’ll practice harder.”
As the Wildcats struggled to pass and hit in the first pair of sets. When WCC caught a stride, they had an answer for everything --- even blocks. Cox and WCC middle hitter Elizabeth Cox went head-to-head on the net late in Set 3. While the Lancers won the match, there were still holes in their game such as ball chasing and committing their own errors.
“We expect them to be very aggressive and to go after every ball and to run down balls,” Barnes said.
LCC travels to Louisburg for a conference matchup Wednesday. They’ll play Louisburg again in the Lancers’ next home game Sept. 25.
Jessika Morgan can be reached at 252-559-1078 and Jessika.Morgan@Kinston.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessikaMorgan.