PINETOWN — The Northside volleyball team’s difficult, somewhat heartbreaking start to conference play only got tougher on Tuesday in a loss to the defending Coastal Plains Conference champion, Pamlico County.

For the second-straight match, the Lady Panthers came out strong, powering their way to victories in the first two games, only to succumb to apparent fatigue through the final three games. And despite owning the lead for most of the fifth-game tiebreaker, Northside lost the match in the final points, falling 3-2.

“That’s two matches in a row where we come out strong in the first two games, then laydown and let them win,” said head coach Kayla Maddox after the match. “Conditioning is the only thing I can think of for the late-match struggles.”

Coming off a 3-2 loss to the defending CPC runner up last week, Northside was once again matched up against a team boasting multiple high-velocity outside hitters. But for most of the match, the back line performed, digging out some hard-hit kills and turning them into points on the other end.

A strong defensive performance went without much consistency from the front line, especially in the later games. However, the setter-hitter duo of Kendall Alligood and Rachel Lang had yet another productive evening on the court — Alligood notching 17 assists and Lang finishing with 16 kills.

“Rachel and Kendall did well, but our back row, their defense, really carried us,” Maddox said. “Savannah Slade, specifically, had a great cover game. Really our back row kept us in it and I wish our front row could have performed to that standard.”

In the back-and-forth first game, Northside set that standard. Working off the back line, Alligood assisted six kills and Lang smashed five, while Pamlico County hitters Cheryl Thomas and Laichelle Sparrow matched on the other side of the net. With the game tied at 22, a kill from Lang and a mishit from the Hurricanes’ back line gave the host a hard-earned 25-23 victory.

The Panthers came out in the second game even more energized than the first, while a slew of unforced errors didn’t help Pamlico County’s cause. Lang’s consistency up front, Alligood’s well-placed sets and strong support from Meredith Boyd and Sarah Rhem gave Northside a 25-19 win and a commanding two-game lead.

“(Pamlico’s) girls were hitting harder in the first two games than they were in the last three, so I don’t know if we just got comfortable with two wins under our belt or what,” Maddox said. “Hard and fast hitters — we have good hitters, but we don’t put the speed on the ball that they do. That’s hard to cover.”

Pamlico County opened up an 18-10 lead in the third game, as the front line began placing the ball more accurately and capitalizing off Panthers out of position. The visitors took the game, 25-16, and only improved from there.

The fourth game was all Pamlico County, limiting Northside to just four kills and seven points and winning by an impressive score of 25-7.

But Northside would not go down without a fight. In the fifth game, the Panthers owned a three-point lead in the final points, but the Hurricanes powered back and tied the game at 12. A kill from Thomas and a netted spike by the Panthers’ front line ended the game, 15-13, and the match.

“We did play better this time through those games than we did against East Carteret (last week), so there is hope there,” Maddox said. “What I have to hope for now is that they don’t hang their heads and think this will be the rest of their season.”

With the loss, Northside drops to 2-5 (0-2 CPC) and will travel to Williamston on Thursday to take on Bear Grass (5-1, 0-1 CPC).