Southern Wayne’s Morgan Brimberry served four aces during a four-set loss to Rosewood on Wednesday evening. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
GOLDSBORO — Southern Wayne’s volleyball team gathered in a corner inside Rosewood’s gymnasium Wednesday evening.
Frustration shrouded the players’ faces.
Team captains displayed their concerns after a 25-18, 16-25, 17-25, 14-25 loss. But the conversation went deeper for the Saints, who are mired in a five-game slump
“It all starts with themselves,” SW head coach Hannah Taylor said. “We’re a mental case right now. We make an error, we’re down on ourselves. We make another error, we’re down on our ourselves.
“We’ve just to got to learn to stay out of our heads. That’s truly all it is. We have the talent, we have the practice, we have the game plan to beat teams, but we don’t use them.”
Eager to snap a nine-game skid against the Eagles that started in 2010, the Saints seized command midway through the opening set.
Down 10-9, outside hitter Mylee Wiggs took control. The junior delivered a set-tying kill toward an open back corner off Taylor Lee’s assist. Wiggs served three aces, another kill and Rosewood contributed an attack error.
Junior middle hitter Avery Ramsey and junior outside hitter Kylie Huffman kept the Eagles within striking distance at 18-15.
Jy’Asha Cousins delivered a bomb off Lee’s assist that started a set-clinching 6-3 run. Morgan Brimberry and Alysa Craft combined to serve three aces, while Cousins and Wiggs each supplied a kill that helped seal the outcome.
“Couldn’t ask for a better start,” Taylor said.
The Saints couldn’t keep the momentum.
Rosewood changed its service pattern that effectively took Lee out of running Southern Wayne’s offense. The Saints served up too many transition balls that allowed the Eagles to flourish, particularly from the outside pin behind Huffman, Jessica Fones, Alyvia Boren and Bella Mazura.
Kneeling with clipboard in hand, Taylor watched as her defense failed to make the proper adjustment to cover the middle- and left-back areas of the court.
Jones collected 14 kills.
“They set inside and even though we had a game plan of bring our block inside, leaving line wide open and telling certain players to be in spots where they were hitting, our defense was unable to get to those spots,” Taylor said. “We had a marker of where they should be at when they’re hitting. Same thing with the block.”
The Saints also struggled in serve receive.
Tied at 14-14, Fones connected on consecutive kills. Mazura reeled off three straight aces for a 19-14 advantage. Wiggs momentarily stopped the surge with a kill — one of 12 on the day.
Rosewood answered with a 6-1 run to knot the best-of-five matchup at one apiece.
Southern Wayne grabbed an early three-point advantage in set three. The Eagles eventually tied it at 9-9 on McCandless St. John’s ace.
Cousins’ posted a solo block and Wiggs tooled a kill off the double block to put the Saints in front, 16-15. Mistakes surfaced again and Mazura dominated from the service line to polish off set three for the Eagles.
The fourth set mirrored set three.
Miscues plagued the Saints, who faced an eight-point deficit on two occasions. The Eagles capitalized and eventually extended their advantage, which led to their 10th straight victory in the series.
Rosewood (8-1 overall) logged 34 kills, 21 aces and nine blocks as a team.
“I tell them that volleyball is a game of ups and downs … a game of runs and you’re going to make mistakes,” said Taylor, whose team committed 28 unforced errors. “Being able to shake [off] that mistake and get that next ball is crucial to volleyball. They played ‘better’ with the ball.”
Lee dished out 19 assists for the Saints, who had 56 digs and 21 kills as a team.
Southern Wayne (2-6) returns home today for a Quad County 3A encounter against South Johnston.
You may reach sports writer Rudy Coggins at prepswriter2@gmail.com or call/text at 919-709-9257.
