Home-court disadvantage: Lady Cyclones stymied, swept by Lee Christian
By Jimmy Lewis jlewis@wilsontimes.com | 265-7807 | Twitter: @JimmyLewisWT
Off to an unbeaten start in its new conference home, the Community Christian School varsity volleyball team did not look the part Thursday night versus Lee Christian.
Playing in a Peace Church gymnasium that boasted limited support due to the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association’s continued attendance restrictions due to COVID-19, the most audible screams of encouragement belonged to the junior varsity and middle school outfits from Lee Christian, which had plenty to yell about in a comprehensive 25-7, 25-13, 25-12 decision.
It dropped CCS to 2-3 overall and gave the Lady Cyclones their first loss in Mid-Carolina Conference play at 2-1. Lee Christian climbed to 2-0, both in MCC play.
Consistent performance in serve-receive plagued CCS from the outset, as Lee Christian jumped out to an early 6-0 lead in the opening set. The string included three consecutive aces from libero Emma Grace Dubuc and forced an early timeout from the Lady Cyclones.
“We had a few girls that we need to work on staying down and not standing as they’re approaching the ball,” CCS head coach Candi Watson said. “So we’ve got a little bit to work on that. We need to work a little bit more on coverage. They were not covering as well as they should have been. They were leaving some areas open.”
While the defense of CCS wasn’t up to snuff, the offense had its own issues. Unofficial statistics kept by the Lady Cyclones did not credit the hosts with a single kill, and the majority of points that went in the direction of CCS came via aces off the service line or Lee Christian errors of the attack and service variety.
Eighth grader Gracie Beamon had two aces for the Lady Cyclones, with eighth grader Ava Pate and junior Olivia Kelly having one each.
From 15-7, Lee Christian closed out the opening set on a 10-0 run. In the second set, Beamon flashed prowess from the service line, keeping the Lady Cyclones around as late as 8-8. However, Lee Christian pounced from there, taking advantage of generous CCS defense to extend out to 16-9 cushion. The Lady Cyclones didn’t threaten again, opening the third and final set in a 8-1 hole punctuated by Emma Lodge’s kill.
All the while, the combined middle school and junior varsity teams from Lee Christian, which shared the same single bus back to Sanford, made their presence felt beginning with warmups.
“Since this year we all travel together in one bus, there’s really nowhere for them to go,” Lee Christian head coach Tracie Bowers said. “They kept up the spirit, and that really helped the team play well. We appreciate that.”
The home-court advantage that wasn’t did not escape the notice of Watson.
“The whole gym was pretty much Lee fans,” Watson said. “So yeah, that was a disadvantage for them because they didn’t have any fans cheering them on.”
Lee Christian finished with 13 aces off the CCS serve-receive and notched 24 kills as a team. Lodge had nine to pace the visitors, while Kayley Rowland added seven.
CCS is back in action Tuesday, traveling to another one of its new conference foes in Southside Christian.
Watson maintained that the product on the floor Thursday night was not representative of the Lady Cyclones through five matches.
“They were not as together as they normally are,” she said. “They weren’t doing their normal hits, blocks like they normally do. We actually had a few that were not even blocking when they were supposed to be blocking. This was not the normal CCS team. They are a lot better than what they showed tonight. So we’re just hoping that we can get them back on the right path come Monday at practice so they will be strong and ready to go again on Tuesday.”
By Jimmy Lewis jlewis@wilsontimes.com | 265-7807 | Twitter: @JimmyLewisWT
Off to an unbeaten start in its new conference home, the Community Christian School varsity volleyball team did not look the part Thursday night versus Lee Christian.
Playing in a Peace Church gymnasium that boasted limited support due to the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association’s continued attendance restrictions due to COVID-19, the most audible screams of encouragement belonged to the junior varsity and middle school outfits from Lee Christian, which had plenty to yell about in a comprehensive 25-7, 25-13, 25-12 decision.
It dropped CCS to 2-3 overall and gave the Lady Cyclones their first loss in Mid-Carolina Conference play at 2-1. Lee Christian climbed to 2-0, both in MCC play.
Consistent performance in serve-receive plagued CCS from the outset, as Lee Christian jumped out to an early 6-0 lead in the opening set. The string included three consecutive aces from libero Emma Grace Dubuc and forced an early timeout from the Lady Cyclones.
“We had a few girls that we need to work on staying down and not standing as they’re approaching the ball,” CCS head coach Candi Watson said. “So we’ve got a little bit to work on that. We need to work a little bit more on coverage. They were not covering as well as they should have been. They were leaving some areas open.”
While the defense of CCS wasn’t up to snuff, the offense had its own issues. Unofficial statistics kept by the Lady Cyclones did not credit the hosts with a single kill, and the majority of points that went in the direction of CCS came via aces off the service line or Lee Christian errors of the attack and service variety.
Eighth grader Gracie Beamon had two aces for the Lady Cyclones, with eighth grader Ava Pate and junior Olivia Kelly having one each.
From 15-7, Lee Christian closed out the opening set on a 10-0 run. In the second set, Beamon flashed prowess from the service line, keeping the Lady Cyclones around as late as 8-8. However, Lee Christian pounced from there, taking advantage of generous CCS defense to extend out to 16-9 cushion. The Lady Cyclones didn’t threaten again, opening the third and final set in a 8-1 hole punctuated by Emma Lodge’s kill.
All the while, the combined middle school and junior varsity teams from Lee Christian, which shared the same single bus back to Sanford, made their presence felt beginning with warmups.
“Since this year we all travel together in one bus, there’s really nowhere for them to go,” Lee Christian head coach Tracie Bowers said. “They kept up the spirit, and that really helped the team play well. We appreciate that.”
The home-court advantage that wasn’t did not escape the notice of Watson.
“The whole gym was pretty much Lee fans,” Watson said. “So yeah, that was a disadvantage for them because they didn’t have any fans cheering them on.”
Lee Christian finished with 13 aces off the CCS serve-receive and notched 24 kills as a team. Lodge had nine to pace the visitors, while Kayley Rowland added seven.
CCS is back in action Tuesday, traveling to another one of its new conference foes in Southside Christian.
Watson maintained that the product on the floor Thursday night was not representative of the Lady Cyclones through five matches.
“They were not as together as they normally are,” she said. “They weren’t doing their normal hits, blocks like they normally do. We actually had a few that were not even blocking when they were supposed to be blocking. This was not the normal CCS team. They are a lot better than what they showed tonight. So we’re just hoping that we can get them back on the right path come Monday at practice so they will be strong and ready to go again on Tuesday.”
