Nansemond River volleyball coach Chris Kosmowski just wanted to be fair to his players. It ended up nearly costing his team the game.

After Kosmowski’s boys ran away from host Lakeland 25-15 in the second game of the Suffolk rivals’ match Tuesday evening, putting them up 2-0, Kosmowski put his second- stringers in for the third game.

Not surprisingly, the Cavaliers charged to a quick 25-6 win. Unfortunately for River, the Cavaliers used that momentum to rush to a 25-20 victory in the fourth game and got ahead in the fifth before a final Warrior surge secured a 25-23, 25-15, 6-20, 25-20, 15-10 victory to complete River’s fourth intra-Suffolk sweep in five years.

&uot;Lakeland showed a lot of heart, and they played a great game,&uot; said a sheepish Kosmowski. &uot;I’m glad we came out on top in game five, but I didn’t expect it to get that far. I just have to be prepared for the worst, and fortunately we stepped up.&uot;

Three aces from Brian Briesemeister gave River a 9-3 lead, but Daniel Cross smacked down Lakeland’s first kill and Cory Worley the Cavs’ first ace to get to 9-7. Briesemeister knocked two kills to go up 18-12, but Cross whacked another kill and Worley served three straight points to tie the score at 19. The teams tied at 20, 21 and 22 before kills by Briesemeister and Mark Brown gave River a 24-22 lead. Brown’s next kill went out of bounds to give Lakeland the ball, but Briesemeister spiked home one more to end the game.

A pair of Sean Debbly kills netted River an 8-3 lead in the second game, and the Cavaliers never got closer than three after that. But then came the third game, and Lakeland dominated, with Dirrell Foreman hammering two kills along the way.

The fourth game started much as the first had, with River taking a small lead early. But Lakeland got possession and a 14-13 lead, and Cross knocked over three points for a 17-13 lead. Another back-and-forth battle ended with Lakeland up 21-18, and a Briesemeister kill went out of bounds. Cross hit a kill and Foreman served up a point for a 24-19 lead, and a River block went out of bounds to send the game to the decider.

Chad Cross served Lakeland to a 4-0 lead. Kills by Briesemeister and Debbly and an ace from Jason Taylor tied it, but Daniel had a kill and Foreman an ace to go up 6-4. Two Debbly kills tied the score at eight, and an ace from Brown upped River’s lead to 11-8. Lakeland got the ball back, but a kill by Brown got River another point, and another from Briesemeister, his match-leading eleventh, ended the match.

River’s girls pulled off their second sweep of the season of their local rivals, winning 25-12, 25-21, 25-17. April Hines had nine kills and Shannon Andy four, and Sarah McDonald had five aces.

In other action, King’s Fork’s girls fell in five games to Oscar Smith.

jason.norman@suffolknewsherald.com