Barnes, won their second consecutive Coastal Rivers Conference regular season title.
By Junious Smith III / Sports Editor KINSTON FREE PRESS
Most of the players from last year’s volleyball team may have graduated, but the result was the same for Arendell Parrott — Coastal Rivers Conference champions.
Alli Grant Avery had 12 kills and Susana Sualevai added nine as Arendell Parrott defeated Fayetteville Academy 25-17, 25-21, 25-12 on Thursday. The win was the sixth straight for the Lady Patriots (17-4, 8-2) and gave them their second straight conference title.
“It’s definitely exciting,” Sualevai said. “Our serves and communication was way better than our last game against Fayetteville Academy and we made several lineup changes, which helped.”
The game also doubled as Senior Night, honoring four more players who wrapped up their careers at the school in style — Sualevai, Morgan Banker, Frances Barringer and Kerry Miller. Avery said she was glad to be a part of a great moment.
“It feels great to help everyone to win the conference title, especially for the seniors,” she said. “Hopefully we can keep winning and advance (in the playoffs) to the state championships.”
Arendell Parrott scored the match’s first two points, highlighted by a Sualevai kill, but Fayetteville Academy countered to take an 8-5 advantage. The Lady Patriots, then went on a 9-2 run — punctuated by a Gabby Carriere service ace — to take control. Arendell Parrott closed out the set on an ace from Kerry Miller to take the first set.
The second set was closely contested, with nine ties and five lead changes. The Lady Patriots took an 11-8 advantage after an Alli Grant Avery kill, but the Lady Eagles scored the next four points to take the lead. Arendell Parrott continued to fight, finally capturing a 17-16 advantage on another Alli Grant Kill the team wouldn’t relinquish. The Lady Eagles got to within 19-18 on an Onami Ojo kill, but the Lady Patriots scored the next four points to further distance themselves and ended the set on an ace from Frances Barringer for the 2-0 advantage.
The third set was much easier for Arendell Parrott. With the score tied at 2, the Lady Patriots went on an 11-1 run, highlighted by two Barringer service aces, an ace from Mackenzie Pope, a kill from Sualevai and a block from Hannah Scott Avery. The Lady Eagles wouldn’t get closer than eight for the rest of the set and it was fitting that Sualevai had the conference-clinching kill to end the match.
Hannah Scott Avery said there was no better way to finish the regular season.
“It was awesome to have the seniors go out like this,” she said. “We put all of our effort into it.”
Arendell Parrott coach David Barnes said his first season at the helm was faced with plenty of adversity, but he said he was glad to see his team persevere throughout the season.
“I think the biggest difference between this season and last season, we had maybe six seniors last year,” Barnes said. “This year, we had two eighth-graders, a freshman and two sophomores playing. It was a very challenging environment and early on, it seemed like every game went five sets. They continued to fight and were winning throughout and then we had injuries. We lost Scarlet Combs for the season and then Gabby went out, so we were down two starters.
“It was a struggle most of the time, but we got Gabby back and won the last six games of the year to become conference champs. They’ve done a great job.”
For Fayetteville Academy coach Kevin Dennison, he said he’ll have to wait to see of the Lady Eagles’ record of 11-7 and 4-4 in conference play will be enough to get a birth in the playoffs, but he wants his team to get back to what made them successful earlier in the year if they are playing in the postseason.
“The team really needs to get back to having fun,” Dennison said. “We need to have the love to compete and play together.”
For Arendell Parrott, Hannah Scott Avery had seven kills and Pope had 22 assists. For Fayetteville Academy, Ojo had eight kills and Jane Schaefer had 15 assists.
By Junious Smith III / Sports Editor KINSTON FREE PRESS
Most of the players from last year’s volleyball team may have graduated, but the result was the same for Arendell Parrott — Coastal Rivers Conference champions.
Alli Grant Avery had 12 kills and Susana Sualevai added nine as Arendell Parrott defeated Fayetteville Academy 25-17, 25-21, 25-12 on Thursday. The win was the sixth straight for the Lady Patriots (17-4, 8-2) and gave them their second straight conference title.
“It’s definitely exciting,” Sualevai said. “Our serves and communication was way better than our last game against Fayetteville Academy and we made several lineup changes, which helped.”
The game also doubled as Senior Night, honoring four more players who wrapped up their careers at the school in style — Sualevai, Morgan Banker, Frances Barringer and Kerry Miller. Avery said she was glad to be a part of a great moment.
“It feels great to help everyone to win the conference title, especially for the seniors,” she said. “Hopefully we can keep winning and advance (in the playoffs) to the state championships.”
Arendell Parrott scored the match’s first two points, highlighted by a Sualevai kill, but Fayetteville Academy countered to take an 8-5 advantage. The Lady Patriots, then went on a 9-2 run — punctuated by a Gabby Carriere service ace — to take control. Arendell Parrott closed out the set on an ace from Kerry Miller to take the first set.
The second set was closely contested, with nine ties and five lead changes. The Lady Patriots took an 11-8 advantage after an Alli Grant Avery kill, but the Lady Eagles scored the next four points to take the lead. Arendell Parrott continued to fight, finally capturing a 17-16 advantage on another Alli Grant Kill the team wouldn’t relinquish. The Lady Eagles got to within 19-18 on an Onami Ojo kill, but the Lady Patriots scored the next four points to further distance themselves and ended the set on an ace from Frances Barringer for the 2-0 advantage.
The third set was much easier for Arendell Parrott. With the score tied at 2, the Lady Patriots went on an 11-1 run, highlighted by two Barringer service aces, an ace from Mackenzie Pope, a kill from Sualevai and a block from Hannah Scott Avery. The Lady Eagles wouldn’t get closer than eight for the rest of the set and it was fitting that Sualevai had the conference-clinching kill to end the match.
Hannah Scott Avery said there was no better way to finish the regular season.
“It was awesome to have the seniors go out like this,” she said. “We put all of our effort into it.”
Arendell Parrott coach David Barnes said his first season at the helm was faced with plenty of adversity, but he said he was glad to see his team persevere throughout the season.
“I think the biggest difference between this season and last season, we had maybe six seniors last year,” Barnes said. “This year, we had two eighth-graders, a freshman and two sophomores playing. It was a very challenging environment and early on, it seemed like every game went five sets. They continued to fight and were winning throughout and then we had injuries. We lost Scarlet Combs for the season and then Gabby went out, so we were down two starters.
“It was a struggle most of the time, but we got Gabby back and won the last six games of the year to become conference champs. They’ve done a great job.”
For Fayetteville Academy coach Kevin Dennison, he said he’ll have to wait to see of the Lady Eagles’ record of 11-7 and 4-4 in conference play will be enough to get a birth in the playoffs, but he wants his team to get back to what made them successful earlier in the year if they are playing in the postseason.
“The team really needs to get back to having fun,” Dennison said. “We need to have the love to compete and play together.”
For Arendell Parrott, Hannah Scott Avery had seven kills and Pope had 22 assists. For Fayetteville Academy, Ojo had eight kills and Jane Schaefer had 15 assists.
