West Bladen’s Trinity Meares (right) hits the ball over the net with East Bladen’s Dyiamon Robinson (left) attempting to make a block.
ELIZABETHTOWN — The West Bladen Lady Knights defeated the East Bladen Lady Eagles for a 3-1 victory on Thursday evening in a non-conference match-up. The Lady Eagles took the first set 25-10 in front of their home crowd but the battle was only getting started when their opponents tied the game after a five point victory in the second set.
West Bladen senior Maddie Walters opened the scoring in the third set by getting her point to drop between her opponents. East Bladen immediately responded with a point of their own and the two teams traded points with no real separation. West Bladen senior Trinity Meares dropped in a service point to push the score to 6-5 but East Bladen junior Mollie Tolar smashed a kill to tie the game once more.
The Lady Eagles attempted to pull away from their opponents after accumulating a five point lead but their rivals came out of a timeout refusing to fold under pressure. The game was back in the Lady Knights reach after their opponents suffered some attacking errors to put them within one.
West Bladen senior Kiera Lewis rose above the net for a crucial black to tie the third set once more at 15-15. Freshman Greer Pope kept the momentum going for the Lady Knights with a service point to reclaim the lead. The Lady Eagles took a minute to regroup after a timeout but Pope dropped in her second straight service point after the restart.
East Bladen senior Dyiamon Robinson got a block and she aced her serve for two straight points to tie the set at 17-17. The Knights were finally able to gain some separation with the help of Lewis getting some crucial points to fall. She got the final and decisive point to take the third set at 27-26.
The fourth set was much of a deadlock as the third set and the fight continued to rage on with long rallies from both squads. Lewis got another block at the net that made the score 5-4 in favor of the Lady Knights and moments later the host smashed the ball out of bounds for a free point towards their opposition’s score tally. East Bladen senior Zoe Smith responded with a kill to bring her team within one of their opponents at 6-5.
The Lady Knights were able to extend their lead with six straight points before their opponents called a timeout to regroup. West Bladen were able to push the score to 16-9 after good defensive and attacking displays to keep a seven point cushion. The Lady Eagles got their tenth point off a West Bladen attacking error and Miriam DeVane would ace her service point on the next play to keep the home team in the game. Lewis and Walters would both get important blocks to stretch the West Bladen lead to 18-16.
The Lady Eagles suffered an attacking error that put their opponents up by three points but were able to tie the game with three straight points. West Bladen senior Jenna McLean smashed her service point to extend the Lady Knights lead to 23-21. East Bladen gave their opponents a point after an attacking error but were able to avoid immediate defeat after a service error from their opponents. The hope would quickly dissipate for the host after West Bladen sophomore Natalee Sykes would go-on to smash the game winning kill and end the fourth set at 25-22.
Lewis led the Lady Knights attack with nine kills, two blocks and 11 service points that included two aces. DeVane led the Lady Eagles attack with six kills and four service points despite her team’s loss. West Bladen now move to 2-1 on the season and they’ll meet with Heide Trask at home this Monday in a non-conference match-up. East Bladen are now 1-1 on the season and they will clash with Midway on Monday in a non-conference match-up.