Story and Photo by Brennan Waldorf
After a road loss to Northampton and a home loss to Broadwater, the Warriors get back on track by sweeping all three district teams at home before traveling to Chincoteague Oct. 17.
Nandua moves to 7-11 on the season and 6-2 in district play after beating Northampton in four sets (25-18, 19-25, 25-21, 25-9) on Monday night. The Warriors now sit one game behind district leader Chincoteague.
The Jackets put themselves ahead at the start of the first set, opening with an ace from freshman Jacqueline Maldonado, but their lead wouldn’t last long. After a miss communication between the Jackets that saw the ball hit the floor, Nandua’s Deanna Pryor took over. Pryor served back to back aces followed by a perfectly timed floater by Lyric Sampson and the Warriors were back in it. Pryor would serve two more aces and the Warriors took the lead 7-4. Play continued and both teams battled at the net with several blocks on both sides that were kept alive by second efforts. The Warriors took the first set 25-18.
The second set started with both teams trading points as they tried to tame their serves from going out of bounds. The score changed several times throughout the set but was locked at 18-18 before the Jackets’ surge took place. A Nandua carry followed by a miscommunication put the Warriors down 20-18 and the Jackets would take full advantage of the leverage. Ariana Wilson recorded a kill off two Nandua blockers putting the score at 23-18. The Jackets next serve was dug up but the ball’s projection was an anomaly at it fell perfectly in between two crossbeams, lodging itself in the rafters. The Warriors, astonished and confused after the play, would lose the game after a Jada Giddens kill fell into the open court winning the set 25-19.
The third set will go down as the deciding set as both teams battled back and forth. The teams traded the lead but the Warriors ultimately pulled away after they hit the 15-point mark. They finished the set on a kill from Haylie Justice, wining the set 25-21.
The last set was devastating for the Jackets as they failed to perform on the road even with the support of several fans. The Warriors went on 10-0 run to start the set behind the serving of Karen Pichardo. The Jackets were unable to get things going as they committed several hitting errors. The lone bright spot came when Yeats James was able to record three aces in row before the Jackets turned the ball back over to the Warriors. The Warriors, ahead 24-9, won on a broken play that saw Nandua scrambling to make a save. Northampton, thinking the play was over, were caught by surprise when Nandua’s Alana Shea was able to return the ball, winning the set 25-9.
Northampton will be back in action next week Oct. 22 at home with a matchup against Surry County. The Warriors will hit road to face Norfolk Christian Oct. 23.
