By By STEVE FRANKLIN, Sports Writer
CHOCOWINITY — When their team needed them most, Heather Jackson and Katie Paschal came to the rescue.
Heading into the fifth set Thursday evening, all the momentum was in favor of the Seahawks. Southside had dropped the first two sets, but rallied to win the third and fourth sets to force a tie breaker with Williamston.
The Seahawks were in top-notch form. The crowd was roaring. And Southside was poised to knock off the defending Atlantic Conference champs.
But Jackson and Paschal thwarted the Seahawks’ rally, combining for 13 service points, five aces and five kills in the final set to lead Williamston past Southside, 25-20, 25-20, 17-25, 20-25, 15-5.
Southside jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the fifth set, before Jackson strung together a good run serving the ball.
Jackson took the serve with the score 2-1, and strung together eight straight service points, including four aces to help the Lady Tigers build a 9-3 lead. During that stretch, Paschal came up with four high-flying kills.
After Southside drew within four points of the Tigers at 9-5, it was Paschal’s turn to show off her serving skills.
The Williamston junior placed five straight serves between the lines and closed out the Lady Tigers’ win.
In the first two sets, Williamston could do no wrong as they put away Southside with ease.
But in the third and fourth sets, the Seahawks returned the favor as Daneilya Whitney recorded six kills and two blocks during the two sets and Dot Jones added seven service points and three aces during the two-game stretch.
Despite the great effort, the Seahawks were disappointed with how the fifth set unfolded.
One of the biggest problems for the Seahawks was unforced errors. They committed 44 on the night, with 31 of those coming during the three games they lost.
Jackson led Williamston with 16 service points, including nine aces, while Paschal finished with 14 kills, 13 service points, three aces and three blocks.
Southside was led by Whitney with 10 kills, six service points and three blocks, while Jones and Mandi Harding each had 11 service points.
Williamston (6-3, 3-0) will be back in action on Monday when it hits the road to take on North Pitt, while the Seahawks (6-4, 2-1) will look to get back in the win column Tuesday night when they travel to Yeatesville to take on cross-county rival Northside.