The Lady Trojans opened their home schedule of NJCAA Region 10 opponents with the visiting Louisburg College Hurricanes. The Trojans (0-2) posted close match losses at Wake Tech and the USC-Lancaster on the road. The Hurricanes were 1-2 in conference matches. This was a close match coming down to the extra points in the 5th set.
The Trojans opened the first set with a bit of a lead early. The Hurricanes tied the set at 9-9 and the score remained close until the 15-17 point; the Hurricanes were able to get some effective serves and put together a 4 pt run that the Trojans could not match. The final was 25-17.
In the second set, the Trojans could not get any momentum. They were making too many mistakes and just could not get an offense going. They trailed 6-17 before they were able to start getting effective offense from Christiana Murray and Da’Nya McFatter. They were able to press the action against the Hurricanes forcing the second time-out trailing 20-24. Although the Trojans lost the set 25-20, they were able to prove to themselves that they can play and comeback when down.
This carried into the 3rd set as the Trojans ran an early lead, 17-10, going into the second service rotations. Despite a run by the Hurricanes, the Trojans closed out the set 25-18. Again, solid defense from Paige Stalnaker and Madison Plourde and timely hitting made the difference. Emily Bresee and Krislyn Bullard set the ball well for the hitters. There were several long rallies as neither team wanted to lose any points.
The Trojans ran out a lead in the first two servers, 6-1, only to have the Hurricanes serve to lead 8-6. This was to prove a pivotal set. The Hurricanes wanted to end the match, and the Trojans hoped to keep it alive and head to a deciding 5th set. With the Trojans down 21-18, Emily Bresee came to serve. She was able to get her serves in and the Trojans converted 5 straight points to lead 23-21. The Hurricanes used both time-outs to stop the Trojan surge. The teams split points with Trojans serving for the set at 24-23, only to be matched by the Hurricanes who served for the match, 25-24. Both teams came up big when they needed to. Ana Gray Barbour was able to serve two points to end the set for the Trojans, 27-25. This was just a taste of what was to come in the final set.
The final set was going to be good. The Trojans were able to serve first, but that hadn’t mattered in the previous sets. The score remained within a point until the Hurricanes were able to reach an 8-6 lead as the teams switched sides. Following the switch, the Trojans immediately tied the score on a Jillian Recod hit. Jessica Ware was able to serve out to a 13-9 lead before the Hurricanes rallied for a point. Once the Trojans gained a 14-10 lead, they had several match points left. They were unable to convert any of the points and the Hurricanes put together 6 points to win the set, 16-14 and the match 3-2.
The nice size crowd enjoyed the back and forth of the match; the Trojans playing hard with their backs to the walls in Sisk Gym. It was exciting to have athletics finally on campus and share the excitement in such a close match. The Trojans will face the Hurricanes in two weeks, and will turn the tide early in that match.
FTCC 17 20 25 27 14
LC 25 25 18 25 16
