CHOCOWINITY — At times, the Southside volleyball team looks like a cohesive unit, limiting unforced errors and setting hitters Symone Ruffin and Sarah Shingleton up for quality kills. Then, there’s the other Southside, a team that struggles with communication and positioning on the floor.

There was a little of both Wednesday night in a 3-1 loss to South Creek, but head coach Rosalyn Grimes admits she’s seen significant improvement since day one, especially when faced with adversity.

For three of the four games, the Seahawks were without junior Andrea Waters, the team’s go-to middle hitter who has worked nicely alongside Ruffin this season. Early in the second game, Waters dove backwards for a ball near the back line, spraining her ankle and sidelining her for the remainder of the contest. The Seahawks were forced to adjust.

“I really do think they’re getting better as a team,” Grimes said after the game. “It was a big adjustment tonight with Andrea getting hurt. I honestly feel like if she was able to stay in, we could have possibly won the match … I just really hope it’s not one of those nagging injuries. I’d rather her not play this match than be out for conference. I think she’s going to go get that checked out and go from there.”

In Waters’ absence, Ruffin stepped up, finishing with a game-high 14 kills, while Shingleton notched eight kills. Taylor Langley also came through with six kills and five blocks.

“We just had some spurts where we gave up some critical points,” Grimes said. “Normally it’s communication with us and when communication starts to fail, that’s when we look like the not-so-good team. As long as we’re talking, we’re a pretty good team.”

For South Creek, the 6-foot-tall Raigan Evans was a force in the middle, racking up nine kills, supported by strong performances from seniors Tori Pelt and Kayla Mobley.

After a back-and-forth start to the first game, the Cougars took control after kills from Pelt and Evans. South Creek coasted in the final points and secured a 25-19 win in Game 1.

But Southside answered in Game 2, jumping out to a 7-1 lead on solid net play from Ruffin and some accurate serves from Dajea Reddick. South Creek trimmed the lead minutes later, but was unable to complete the comeback. The Seahawks took Game 2, 25-23.

In a close third game, Southside maintained the lead up until the 19th point and after three ties, the Cougars finally capitalized on a couple of unforced errors by the host, taking the game, 25-21.

The visitors held a double-digit lead for most of Game 4, until some late heroics by Danielle Ruffin cut the deficit to five. Ruffin’s serving wouldn’t be enough in the end, however, as South Creek took the final game, 25-19.

“Danielle has really stepped up this year because her confidence has gotten better,” Grimes said. “We’ve turned her into a predominantly right-side hitter and she’s worked on her serves. She’s always had a very powerful serve, when she gets it perfect, you can’t return it. To me, she’s one of the best servers on the team.”

With the loss, Southside drops to 2-4 and will open up conference play on the road at Bear Grass on Thursday.