NEW HOPE — Up against a team of seniors and attempting to reach a program milestone, the New Hope Trojans volleyball team didn’t flinch.
With a combination of thorough scouting, an intense week of practice and a raucous student section, the Trojans overcame a sluggish first set loss and clinched the final two sets to beat Lake Cormorant Thursday night and advance to the second round of the Class 5A playoffs for the first time in school history.
New Hope junior Daylyn Nettles rang up a match-high 18 kills, including five in the fifth set. Nettles scored four straight kills in the final set to help the Trojans to an early three-point lead, which they would hold onto to clinch the 3-2 win (18-25, 25-16, 22-25, 25-18, 15-13).
“At that moment, I knew how much we wanted to win, and we worked so hard,” Nettles said. “I couldn’t let my team down.”
Nettles, one of only upperclassmen on the team, said the Trojans’ performance Thursday was their “best of the season.” She added 12 digs, three aces and three blocks.
The Trojans (22-15) trailed by as many as eight points in the opening set and struggled to contain Lake Cormorant hitter Alaijiah Rose, who rang up five kills in the set. Rose led Lake Cormorant with more than 15 kills on the night.
New Hope coach Allison Woolbright attributed the sluggish set to trying to match up middle blocker Micaela Hudgins with Rose, a decision that put a strain on her young players working in unfamiliar roles, she said.
“We played around with our rotations some,” Woolbright said. “After that first set, we decided to go back to what we knew.”
New Hope bounced back with a dominant second set, capping it off with back-to-back aces from Kensley Woolbright.
The Trojans squandered a six-point lead in the third set through a string of service errors. But, with their postseason fate on the line, they turned a 16-16 tie in the fourth set into a 9-2 run to force the tiebreaker set. Both Nettles and Zoe Goodman scored two points during the run.
Allison Woolbright said her team remained calm through the final two sets because they’d traveled to watch Lake Cormorant play Lewisburg on Tuesday night and were prepared Thursday.
“So we kind of knew how tough [Rose] would be,” she said, “and we worked our tails off in practice. We had a three-hour practice yesterday after watching them, and we just worked and worked. We knew what to expect, and I think that’s what made the difference.”
One expectancy was Lake Cormorant running its offense exclusively through its outside hitters, Rose and Alex Mobley. Lake Cormorant’s approach helped New Hope’s front row stay organized, Nettles said.
“It takes away a whole section of the court that we don’t have to worry about,” Nettles said. “We were very surprised that [Lake Cormorant] didn’t try something because they’re a good team and older than us. We thought they’d switch it up a little bit.”
Annie Woolbright led New Hope with 27 digs and 22 assists. Hudgins had 12 kills, four aces and three blocks.
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