NEW HOPE — It took a while for the New Hope High School volleyball team to hit its stride Thursday night against Starkville, but once the Trojans got on a bit of a roll a closely contested match became a rout.
Tied 7-7 in the second after a 3-point win in the first, the Trojans scored 13 of the next 14 points and, with a few bumps along the way, rolled to a 25-22, 25-13, 25-12 victory over the Yellow Jackets.
“We usually just have to get in our groove,” New Hope coach Allison Woolbright said. “Starkville is always a competitive game, has always been a dominating force. Our girls just had to adjust, think what they have and then kind of go from there.”
What they had was Kensley Woolbright pretty much everywhere getting points started and a roster full of players taking turns finishing. Kensley Woolbright was the most vocal of the Trojans, keeping up with the flow of the point well after receiving serve.
“We kind of laugh because she doesn’t get a whole lot of recognition, but when she’s not back there everybody knows it,” coach Woolbright said of player Woolbright. “Our team feels a lot more confident having her there. She’s a great passer, and we always say it starts with a pass.”
And ends with a kill, at least much of the time, or at least with a hit that the opposition struggles to handle. And the Trojans (8-5) have a cast of thousands, or so it seems, ready to put those points in the book.
“Everybody just stepped up; it’s always a team effort,” Allison Woolbright said. “We just really challenge the girls to be the best teammate, If one person’s off, just lift her up.”
Consider the run after the second set was tied 7-7. Jakyia Lewis and Madyson McBrayer got hot, as a 13-1 run was begun by a McBrayer kill, was highlighted by Lewis getting two blocks and two kills and ended on a serve from McBrayer that ricocheted off of one defender and off the hands of another for an easy point.
The Yellow Jackets never got closer than 9 points for the rest of the set.
Possibly shaken by the quick turnaround, the Yellow Jackets could not get untracked in the third. After McBrayer opened with a kill, many of the next 15 points came on Starkville errors, and, with a couple of kills mixed in, the Trojans held a commanding 16-4 edge.
But Starkville, which put together solid points throughout the match but could never string them together, kept plugging away. Senior Abbigail Upchurch posted two kills sandwiching a block by Madison Smith to highlight a 5-1 run by the Yellow Jackets (2-6).
After that, neither team scored more than two consecutive points, and trading points was not going to do Starkville much good by then. The third set turned out to be the most decisive of the match.
Through it all, one of the constants of the match was the communication among the Trojans. While Kensley Woolbright often started it by calling off teammates to receive serve, but throughout most of the points the New Hope side kept up the talking.
“That’s one thing all of the girls do a pretty good job, but Kensley especially,” Allison Woolbright said. “We call her the director back there. Being in the back row, she can see everything. She’s good at reading; she sees a push coming or a tip; and I thought tonight we did a lot better at covering tips.
“Madison, Kensley, everybody in the back row did a good job.”
For a team whose only senior is manager Emma O’Brien, everybody doing the job bodes well for this year’s postseason and for 2022.
And perhaps beyond, if one of the New Hope substitutions means anything.
“I had Lexi McBrayer come in tonight,” Allison Woolbright said. “She’s just an eighth-grader. You never know with injuries, with COVID, with playoffs. You never know what we might face, and we’re just trying to figure it out before we have to make any decisions.
“I thought Lexi handled the pressure really well. She’s a good little athlete.”
The Yellow Jackets have a few days off before traveling to Grenada and Caledonia next week, while the Trojans will play in a tournament this weekend before returning home to face Heritage Academy on Monday.
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