Warrior volleyball got back on track Thursday evening as both squads posted victories over visiting Indian River. After both Nansemond River teams fell Tuesday to Great Bridge, the girls (7-4, 5-3) responded with a four-game win (25-17, 19-25, 25-22, 25-17) and the boys (9-2, 5-2) did so as well by sweeping the Braves (25-19, 25-18, 25-19).

An early 7-0 Lady Warrior run put the first game in River’s control. At 6-5 River, Shannon Andy smacked back-to-back kills and followed up with three straight aces to make up the majority of the streak as the score got to 13-5 before Indian River was able to side out. Sarah McDonald notched 11 assists in the opening game, with five each going to Andy and April Hines.

The Lady Warriors led 12-10 in the second game before six straight Lady Brave points gave them a lead IR would not relinquish. However, while the Lady Warriors committed 15 errors in game two; in games three and four, they would make 15 errors combined.

NR took a 4-0 lead in game three, and stretched the margin to 18-11 before the Lady Braves made a nervous finish of it. The lead shrunk to 23-22 before consecutive McDonald-to-Andy connections won a side out and then game point.

Game four remained close until late, with the teams trading the lead until NR led 18-17. From that spot, the Lady Warriors ran out the match with seven straight points.

Hines served three aces in the match-ending rally; with Andy and Britney Pulliam each coming up with key blocks.

For Pulliam, the last block was her fourth of the match, which led the Lady Warrior team. McDonald piled up 33 assists. Andy led NR in kills with 16 and Hines had 15 kills and seven aces.

&uot;Our defense played a lot better tonight, everyone did a better job with it, that was the big difference,&uot; said Hines.

In the boys’ match, the Warriors jumped on top of the visitors early and dictated play with their offense for most of the match.

&uot;We played a great game, a whole game, for the first time all season,&uot; said Warrior coach Chris Kosmowski. &uot;Too bad we couldn’t do this Tuesday night.&uot;

With the opening game tied at 10, River’s offense found its rhythm with three Brian Briesemeister kills spurring on a 6-1 run to give the Warriors a permanent lead. By the end of game one, six different Warriors had kills with Jason Taylor tallying 11 assists.

Everything kept clicking in game two as six straight Warrior points built a 12-3 lead. Back-to-back blocks by Mark Brown made the score 9-3 and two Sean Debbly jump-serve aces won points 10 and 12.

For game two, the Warriors totaled 10 kills, and not so coincidently, Taylor had 10 assists.

Indian River briefly held the lead early in game three at 9-6 before another huge run, this time of 8-1, gave the Warriors a 14-10 lead. Coming off the bench, Doug Edwards contributed a block and then a kill to win points 23 and 24 for the Warriors; and game point was taken with Taylor setting Debbly for the winning kill.

Taylor dished 29 assists; Briesemeister and Brown co-led NR with 10 kills each, and Debbly had eight kills.

Brown also had five blocks.

Both River squads will take on Lakeland for the second time this season, this time at Lakeland, on Tuesday. On the season’s opening night, Nansemond River took a pair of sweeps against the Cavaliers.

andrew.giermak@suffolknewsherald.com