Southern Wayne libero Karlie Lane (red shirt) plays a ball out of the net during early-set action against Rosewood Monday afternoon. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Southern Wayne’s Jy’Asha Cousins (13) connects on a kill against Rosewood’s Kylie Huffman. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Southern Wayne’s tandem of Ilescia Warner (6) and Amya Smith (8) attempt to block a kill by Rosewood’s Allyson Williams. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Southern Wayne’s Mylee Wiggs, back, receives a serve while teammate Karlie Lane watches. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Southern Wayne setter Taylor Lane speaks with the chair official after a controversial, fifth-set call that was over-ruled and led to a Rosewood point. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Southern Wayne’s Jy’Asha Cousins (13), Mylee Wiggs (7) and Amya Smith (8) celebrate after Cousins connected on a fifth-set kill to tie the score at 14-14 on Monday afternoon. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
DUDLEY — Southern Wayne grabbed a two-set lead in dominating fashion and seemed poised to avenge a three-set loss to county volleyball rival Rosewood less than week ago.
The Saints took their foot off the gas.
Bolstered by three controversial late-match calls, the Eagles bounced back and prevailed 14-25, 22-25, 25-13, 25-12, 16-14 on Monday afternoon.
“We should have taken that momentum and swept them in three,” SW head coach Hannah Sladick said.
Jy’Asha Cousins flourished at the net and the Saints capitalized on unforced errors during the first two sets. Cousins’ touches on several Rosewood attacks kept the ball in play and gave her teammates time to set up a counter push.
Southern Wayne cruised 25-14 in set one.
The Eagles used an 11-4 run to turn an 8-3 deficit into a 14-12 lead in set two. The teams traded sideout points before Cousins’ kill and solo block against RHS middle hitter Avery Ramsey put the Saints ahead 18-16.
Tied at 19-19, Cousins and Amya Smith provided timely kills to help preserve a two-point advantage. Gracie Hinson served an ace to close out the set.
Confident and smiling, the Saints received a warning from Sladick.
“I said don’t expect them to come out here in this third set and roll over,” Sladick said. “I said y’all have to play hard, play your game and I don’t think we brought everything that we had.”
Rosewood (11-1 overall) cleaned up its defense, adjusted its serve-receive game and developed rhythm offensively. Senior outside hitter Abby Bradley thrived on kills down the line, Ramsey controlled the middle and libero Alexus Mazura covered the floor like a blanket.
Meanwhile, the Saints got caught in rotations where they failed to generate any offensive momentum with Cousins at the net. The Eagles benefited from transition balls from the Saints, who constantly scrambled to pick up off-speed shots in different areas of the court.
The Eagles’ comeback forced a winner-take-all fifth set.
“They just could not pull it together,” Sladick said. “Hitting errors, serving errors, passing errors, defensive errors, dropped balls … lazy play on our part. They were different, they cleaned up their side. They were actually playing [their game] and I don’t believe we were ready for that.”
Southern Wayne opened the fifth set with a 4-1 run.
The Saints won the next the point, but a questionable call changed the momentum. Bradley’s kill attempt visibly clipped the antenna and should have been called out of bounds. The ball dropped inside the line and the floor official, with no guidance from the linesman or chair official, ruled the point good.
Rosewood raced ahead 8-6 and extended the advantage to 11-7.
Two attack errors and back-to-back aces from Smith knotted the set at 11-11. The Eagles moved back in front 13-11 before the Saints’ Ilescia Warner sent an off-speed shot to the back left corner for a sideout.
Rosewood’s attack error created a 13-13 deadlock.
An apparent passing miscue that landed out of bounds gave Southern Wayne match point at 14-13. However, the floor official over-ruled the call and awarded the point to the Eagles.
Cousins pleaded her team’s case showing the ref where her foot was on the line and where the ball landed.
“It was out,” Sladick said. “[Jy] did I what I told her to do, follow the line and if the ball lands on this side [right] of her foot, it’s out. The line judge over there was listening to her coach and her team, so you can’t help that.”
The floor official signaled replay.
Southern Wayne served the ball into the net, which gave Rosewood set point at 14-13. Cousins connected on a kill for the 14-14 tie.
A rally ensued on the next ball and the Saints appeared to earn another match point when Rosewood’s Kylie Huffman touched the net on a kill attempt. However, the floor official assessed the net violation to Cousins, who had dropped half a foot back for a block attempt.
Video showed Huffman clearly touched the net.
The Eagles closed out the match with a kill.
“I told them I was proud of they played at the end of that fifth set,” Sladick said. “But you play hard for every point, you’re excited for every point, but you cannot do that at the end of the game. You have to play that way from point one…be excited, got to go all out.
“We can’t let balls hit the floor, keep serves in and less errors on our part from point one in set one.”
Cousins pounded out a team-leading 16 kills and hit .448 for the match. The junior multi-sport athlete posted seven blocks, including four solo stops. Smith contributed four blocks, while Warner had two blocks.
Karli Lane logged a career-high 30 digs. Mylee Wiggs contributed 14 digs, while Gracie Hinson recorded 10. The Saints notched a season-high 62 digs as a team.
Wiggs and Hinson each served three aces.
Taylor Lee and Kara Davis handed out 16 and 12 assists, respectively.
Southern Wayne steps back into Quad County 3A Conference play at county rival Charles B. Aycock. The JV match begins at 4 p.m.
