By Charles Curcio, Sports Editor
Sunday, August 31, 2008 — The showdown Thursday night between the volleyball teams of Mt. Pleasant and North Stanly started very well for the Comets but ended better for the Tigers.
After North Stanly momentarily silenced the home crowd by winning the first game, Mt. Pleasant roared back to win three straight and take the match 3-1.
North jumped out to a 4-0 start literally on the jump serving of Jessica Barringer.
Jessica Roberts added a nice tap over the net and a block to give North an 11-7 lead in game one.
Mount Pleasant would have to call timeout in the first game as the Comets would extend their lead to seven points at 23-17. North then finished off the game with a 25-18 win.
The win by the Comets must have fired up the home-standing Tigers.
Leading 8-6 in the second game, Mount would score eight straight points enroute to an easy 25-12 win in the second game.
The Comets were not done yet, though. Trailing 15-6 in the third game, Barringer’s jump serve would pace North on a 7-0 run to cut the lead to just two points.
Scoring the last five points of the game, Mount would win the third game 25-18.
The Tigers would close out the match in the fourth game, jumping out to an 8-1 advantage and winning the last game 25-17.
“The first game, we talked very well and covered defensively. We did not let the ball fall at all,” North head coach Sharon Fraley said.
Fraley went on to say that “our offense looked really good tonight. We ended the night with 14 kills and 16 spikes. Our serves were strong as well with only nine service errors.”
North Stanly will continue play in the Rocky River Conference with a match Wednesday at West Stanly.
Regarding preparation for the match, Fraley said that “our ball handling errors were quite high tonight. This is an area that we will continue to work on.”
Contact Charles Curcio at (704) 982-2121 ext. 12 or email at charles@stanlynewspress.com.
