LAURINBURG -- The Lady Scots volleyball team bounced back from a sweep at the hands of Pinecrest with a win over the Pine Forest Trojans on Wednesday night at Scotland High School. Scotland's three sets to one victory improved their record to 9-2 overall (1-2 vs conference opponents) while Pine Forest falls to 6-6 with the loss.
The first set saw teams continue to initially trade points with neither side establishing any notable lead. In fact, the first time either team held a lead of more than one was when the Trojans were up 8-6. Where the set changed was after the Scots found themselves in a 13-10 deficit. Scotland would go on a 9-1 run from there that put them up 19-14. They also finished the set with six points in a row to take the set comfortably 25-15.
The ensuing set was the Scots starting slow but managing to erase a big deficit. They initially were down 3-1 and then 10-4. Scotland would get within four at 10-6 but the Trojans got four unanswered points after that to go up 14-6, leading to a timeout from Romaine. While it took some time, the Scots would chip away slowly and get five points in a row at one point to get the set back to even at 18 apiece. They would then take their first lead of the set at 21-20 and score the final three points of the set to win it 25-22. Despite winning the first two sets, Head Coach Adam Romaine still wants to see his team fix some of the passing and receiving problems that plagued them in the loss to Pinecrest.
"Against a good team like that you can't give up bad passes constantly, we're getting better at digging ourselves out of holes but we're not good enough to constantly do that," Romaine said. "We started off good here tonight but reverted back to serve receive issues again and giving points away. We got a little sloppy and have to minimize our mistakes going forward."
The third set had some back and forth but the Scots lost their temporary lead and never got it back. After the Scots held a 5-4 advantage, Pine Forest got six points in a row and eight of the next nine to go up 12-6, leading to a timeout from Romaine. The Scots then immediately cut the deficit to three with three unanswered out of the break but the Trojans weren't fazed, getting eight in a row of their own to balloon their lead all the way up to 21-10. They would eventually take the third set 25-19 to avoid the sweep.
The fourth set was one Scotland controlled from start to finish. After Pine Forest got the first point, the Scots got the next five and were up 9-3 before the Trojans called a timeout. Nothing positive really came out of it for Pine Forest as the Scots cruised to the finish line from there and won 25-15. Romaine credited the bounce back effort during the fourth set to figuring some things out at the end of the third set even if it was one they didn't win.
"They got too sloppy to start that third set and after that timeout I said let's try to cut the lead in half," Romaine said. "They really fought hard at the end of that set so even though we lost the set I think the momentum carried over into the fourth set."
Senior Addison Johnson was dominant for Scotland, recording 22 kills, four digs and four block assists. Molly Gallagher added eight kills while Nora Teasley had three digs.
The Scots will have a fast turnaround with SAC foe Lee County coming to town on Thursday night. It will be the third game for the team in three days.