The Lady Scots’ Lindsay Locklear (15) spikes the ball against Union Pines Wednesday night.
The Lady Scots’ Addison Johnson (4) with a kill against Union Pines Wednesday night.
The Lady Scots’ Jenna Luquer (9) drills the ball over the net against Union Pines Wednesday night.
LAURINBURG – In the Lady Scots’ (9-6) last three contests, two of them ended up going to five sets. The script would continue Wednesday night as the Lady Scots defeated the Union Pines Vikings (10-7) in five sets. The set scores were 25-27, 25-22, 25-13, 14-25, and 15-12.
It was a back-and-forth affair in the first two sets of the match, as both teams were able to build off of a packed gym of fans from both teams.
In the third set, the Lady Scots found some early momentum and would capitalize off it with a dominant set victory.
But, in the fourth set, the Lady Scots found themselves down 7-1 early, and were never able to get a grip on the set, which led the game into full sets.
In the fifth set, the Lady Scots would get hot, taking an early 7-0 lead. But, the Vikings began to build off of mistakes from the Lady Scots, and would make it a 12-11 set, before the Lady Scots called a timeout.
After the timeout, the Lady Scots would be able to extend their lead to 14-11 before the Vikings called timeout.
But, the Vikings’ timeout wouldn’t be enough to tighten the score, as the Lady Scots were able to get the final point they needed and pull out the victory.
Addison Johnson finished the night with 16 kills, three aces, and three digs.
Lindsay Locklear tallied nine kills, four aces, three digs, an assist, and a solo block.
Jenna Luquer went for eight kills, five aces, two digs, and an assist.
Nateya Scott recorded three aces, three assists, and two kills.
Madison Dixon logged three aces, two kills, two aces, and two digs.
McKenzie Farr capped off her night with four solo blocks and two kills.
Addison Lewis had one kill.
Knowing his team previously lost to Union Pines earlier in the year, Lady Scots head coach Adam Romaine felt his team was fired up for Wednesday’s match, and said he wanted them to put on a show against the Vikings.
“People are talking about they’re charging $8 for a paper ticket, so I said let’s give them their $8 worth since they’re paying a little extra now,” Romaine said, referencing the increase in price for volleyball tickets.
Romaine thought his team played well, but did have some areas where he’d like to continue seeing improvement as the season winds down and the Sandhills Athletic Conference tournament draws closer.
“We made some simple mistakes (in the) first set,” he said. “The set was so tight back-and-forth, we could’ve brought it our way and maybe never made it to set four.”
But, Romaine knows the win was a must-need for the Lady Scots, especially after dropping both away games last week.
“The eggs we laid last week (are) going to bite us in the butt,” he said. “We can still come back and recover from it, but this win was huge. We’re still fighting for second or third (in the conference).”
The Lady Scots will get a well-earned week off before hosting the Pinecrest Patriots, who are currently 7-0 in SAC play, on Oct. 6 at 6 p.m.
Reach Brandon Hodge at [email protected]