The ball lands past the outstretched arms of North Duplin defender M’Chelle Jaco during third-set play against Spring Creek. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
North Duplin’s players celebrate after scoring a point against Spring Creek Thursday afternoon. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Spring Creek’s Sarah Hess (2) and Jasmine Valentine (10) block an off-speed shot by North Duplin’s Lilly Fulghum Thursday afternoon. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
North Duplin’s Reece Outlaw watches the ball sit on the net as Spring Creek’s Jasmine Valentine (10) and Addison Cobb (33) wait to see where it will land during opening-set action Thursday afternoon. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Spring Creek’s Jasmine Valentine sends an off-speed shot over the net while North Duplin’s Eva Quintanilla goes up for the block. Covering the play are the Gators’ Heather Alexander (20) and setter Emily Williams (6). (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
CALYPSO — Take a deep breath, pick yourself up and start all over again.North Duplin did just that on the volleyball court Thursday afternoon.
Reece Outlaw pounded out a season-high 15 kills, Lilly Fulghum handed out 23 assists and the Rebels fended off two late-set rallies during a 25-20, 25-23, 25-23 over border rival Spring Creek.
“[After Wednesday’s loss] I was extremely happy,” said Rebels head coach Heather Best. “I told the girls that failure is not falling down, it’s not getting back up. Don’t consider yourself a failure. You have a hurdle and it’s just a matter of hopping back up, jumping over and going on.
“They did that tonight.”
There were similarities from their first meeting two weeks ago in “The Swamp.” Each team piled up points on unforced errors and the Rebels had trouble closing out sets.
The differences?
North Duplin (4-3 overall) ran its offense more effectively. Outlaw flourished on the outside pin off assists from Fulghum and delivered strong attacks that either clipped the back line or corner. Back-row floor coverage and consistent floor coverage allowed Fulghum to establish a rhythmic attack.
Fulghum surpassed the 400-assist career mark during the three-set affair.
Spring Creek (2-4) seemed more passive.
Instead of getting 6-foot-1 middle hitter Heather Alexander involved in the offense, the Gators constantly fed the Rebels’ offense with transition balls. North Duplin’s defense took away the off-speed shot, which frustrated Alexander.
“The girls were just too flat, a little rusty,” first-year Spring Creek head coach Chad Kirby said. “We didn’t have our offense. It was almost like we were just settling for when the ball came over, we digged it and instead of setting anything up, we threw it right back over.
“Reece was hitting the ball really, really well tonight. Lilly was setting her up perfect and whenever you have that with Reece hitting the ball well, we just couldn’t do anything with her. With the two power hitters [Outlaw, Eva Quintanilla] they have, they ate us up on the lines.”
Tied at 17-17, North Duplin closed out the opening set with an 8-3 run. Sarah Thomas Tucker sealed the outcome off of an assist from Fulghum on an out-of-system play.
Quintanilla’s kill tied the second set at 16-all after Spring Creek built a four-point advantage. Kirby watched in frustration as the Gators’ remained content to deliver transition balls over the net, which allowed the Rebels to seize momentum.
Service aces and unforced errors caused angst among both teams in the latter stages of the set. Outlaw’s kill and an Gators’ passing error gave the Rebels set point at 24-21. Two unforced errors closed the gap to 24-23 before Fulghum dove to dig up a short ball that headed toward Addy Higginbotham, who put away a kill.
North Duplin built a commanding 21-9 lead in the final set.
The Gators answered with a 13-2 run that ended on Quintanilla’s kill. Again, the Rebels committed two unforced errors that made it 24-23. SC junior Sarah Hess and the Rebels’ Valaja Wallace each dug up two hard-hit balls on the next point that ended on a ball-handing violation.
The Rebels secured their eighth consecutive win in the series and 14th overall in 23 meetings since 2011.
“I think sometimes you get a little complete, a little comfortable,” Best said. “You think you can rest and it’s going to be an easy take. A good team is not going to allow that. Spring Creek, like I said the last time, they’ve improved a whole lot. They’re very scrappy and it’s hard to put balls down against them.
“It’s a matter of maturing as a team and realizing you have to finish it.”
North Duplin launches its 2023 Carolina 1A campaign next Tuesday at two-time defending regular-season champion Neuse Charter. Spring Creek opens its Neuse Six 2A slate at home against North Johnston the same afternoon.
