PINETOWN — The Panthers wrapped up their first go-round through their Coastal Plains Conference schedule in style as they swept area and conference rival Southside, 25-18, 25-15, 25-11, on Tuesday.
Stellar serving and strong net play was the key for the Panthers, who with the win maintained their perfect conference record (6-0) and improved to 8-3 on the year under the direction of first-year coach Barry Boyd.
“When Northside and Southside play you never know what’s going to happen, but I thought the girls played really hard tonight,” Boyd said. “A couple of times they lost focus but we were able to get them back on track and they played hard and they played well.”
The Panthers pinpoint accurate serves allowed them to reel off points in bunches, and kept the momentum on their side of the net for a majority of the afternoon.
Alex Adams led the way as she tallied 26 service points, with 11 coming in the third game alone.
“Her serving was crucial,” Boyd said. “She was really getting them in. That was really a key to staying in front of them.”
Also helping keep Northside ahead was the play of Adams and Alex Cutler at the net, as the duo racked up several kills thanks to crisp passes by setters Cheyenne Franks and Kendall Alligood.
The Panthers fell behind 15-9 in the first set, but stormed back thanks to four straight service points from Alligood and an Adams kill.
“We came out a little slow in the first game but we settled down and started getting good sets,” Boyd said. “This game hinges on being able to get good sets to the hitters and we were able to do that.”
The Seahawks (2-4, Costal Plains) played well at the start but never recaptured their earlier form and struggled over the final two sets.
“I thought we did really good in the first game, but then we started to fall apart a little bit,” Southside coach Rosalind Grimes said. “Our passing wasn’t really there. We couldn’t set up to get our hits and that kind of killed it for us.”
Katie Laughinghouse led the Seahawks with four kills, while Kaijia Mourning had three blocks.
Freshman Andrea Waters continued to impress as she totaled eight service points, which helped fuel Southside’s brief rallies.
“Our serving today was definitely good. That was not one of our weaknesses,” Grimes said. “Andrea is a freshman that I moved up from JV. She had some really good serves and we’re working on her hitting and her passing.”
The Seahawks will be back in action on Thursday when they play at East Carteret, while the Panthers will return to the hardwood today to face South Creek.