By By STEVE FRANKLIN, Sports Writer
YEATESVILLE — Southside’s Daneilya Whitney helped the Seahawks claim Beaufort County bragging rights Tuesday night.
The Seahawks’ senior middle hitter erupted for 24 service points, 12 blocks and two kills to lead Southside past arch-rival Northside 25-13, 25-17, 27-25.
Southside opened up play with a convincing 25-13 victory in game one. The Seahawks held a 12-11 lead midway through the opening set then exploded on a 13-2 run to close out the contest. During the final stretch, Whitney and Kristen Ayers combined for 11 service points.
In game two, Southside again held a narrow lead midway through the set before pulling away in the end. Leading 16-14, Whitney took serve and strung together five consecutive service points to push the lead to 21-14. After Northside narrowed the gap to 22-17 behind a pair of kills by Rachel Hollowell and another by Kayla Cerny, Southside’s Caitlin Bogart rattled off three service points to give the Seahawks a 25-17 win in set No. 2.
In the third game, Northside jumped out to a commanding 20-13 lead as Amanda Beirne, Jordan Cooke and Whitney Lewis combined for 11 service points and Cerny notched three kills.
But Southside was determined to end in it in three sets.
Again, Whitney came up big.
With the score 20-14, the Southside senior strung together seven service points in a row and Mandi Harding added four kills to put the Seahawks up 21-20.
The two teams battled back and forth until the Seahawks broke a 25-25 tie behind two service points from Bogart to win 27-25.
Harding, who finished with 10 kills, agreed that it was good for her team to win in three sets.
Northside committed 29 unforced errors on Tuesday, and coach Tami Wagaman felt that led to their downfall.
In addition to Whitney and Harding, the Seahawks also got a terrific front line performance from sophomore Atyana Starkie, who ended the night with seven kills and a pair of blocks.
Northside was led by Beirne with eight service points and Cerny and Hollowell, who each had five kills.
Northside was without two starters as Alicia Brewer and Savanna Boyd were both out of the lineup.
Pruden lauded both teams’ efforts Tuesday night.
Southside (7-4, 2-1) will be back in action Thursday when it travels to Camden, while Northside (6-6, 1-2) will look to get back into the win column on Thursday as well, when it hosts Plymouth.