After a four-game win for Nansemond River over King’s Fork earlier this girls volleyball season, King’s Fork answered with a sweep at Nansemond River on Thursday night 25-22, 25-21, 25-20.

In the boys match at Nansemond River, the Warriors made a key stride in their chase for one of the top four places in the Southeastern District, but it wasn’t easy as the Bulldogs played the Warriors close in all four games of a 25-21, 25-21, 24-26, 25-20 result.

Combined with Lakeland defeating fourth-place Hickory on Thursday, Nansemond River moved into tied 9-6 records with Hickory. The top four schools make the Southeastern District Tournament.

In the girls match, King’s Fork’s defense and hustle forced a wide margin in the errors committed by each team.

Bianca Ward and Juliette Thompson teamed up for a number of points through the middle of game one to keep the Lady Bulldogs narrowly in front.

An ace by Thompson made it 21-18 KF and King’s Fork kept going to a 24-19 lead. Nansemond River fought off three game points before a Thompson set and a kill by Haley Johnson off a Lady Warrior blocker finished the opening game.

Thompson tallied five assists, three kills and two aces in game one. Danielle Gallagher had four kills for the Lady Warriors in game one.

For much of game two, it was only by a point or two, but King’s Fork led throughout the second game after getting out to a 12-6 lead.

With KF hanging on to a 20-19 lead, a kill by Whitney Nichols and back-to-back aces by Ward stretched KF’s lead to four. NR committed 17 errors to KF’s eight in game two.

NR built an 11-4 lead to open game three before seven straight points on Ward’s serve drew King’s Fork into a tie. The Lady Bulldogs moved ahead at 16-15 on a Thompson-to-Johnson set-and-kill.

NR got two straight points with Siedah Bailey setting for Gallagher kills, but King’s Fork moved back in front with three straight points to take a 21-20 lead.

A timeout by the Lady Warriors didn’t slow down Johnson from serving out the match for King’s Fork. A NR error, a kill by Alaysha Mikell, another NR error and an ace by Johnson finished KF’s win.

King’s Fork (3-12, 3-13) was led by Thompson with eight assists and four kills. Ward had four aces, Nichols had four kills and Johnson had two blocks. For Nansemond River (2-13, 2-14), Bailey had 15 assists and Gallagher had 14 kills. King’s Fork finishes the season 3-1 against NR and Lakeland. The Lady Warriors are 2-1 with one more meeting left against Lakeland.

In the boys’ half of the doubleheader, King’s Fork, despite coming into the evening with no wins in 14 matches this season, played right with the Warriors for most of the contest.

The Bulldogs jumped out to a 17-9 lead in the opening game. NR answered from there with a 16-4 run to take the game. Setter Josiah Cubol and middle hitter Hayden Champigny connected for four points during the Warrior run and Kyle Briesemeister also had four kills in game one.

NR led 15-9 in the second game before a KF run closed the gap to a point. Chris Hearn, Jr. put down three kills in four points during KF’s rally. Hearn went on to finish the match with six kills and four blocks. Fellow basketball player Davante Gardner added five kills as both Gardner and Hearn, who have been in-season additions on KF’s volleyball squad, gave the Warriors problems at the net.

Josh Howard’s setting and more hitting from Briesemeister stretched the Warrior lead late in game two and NR went up 2-0.

NR was close to wrapping up the match in three games with a 22-17 lead. The Bulldogs took advantage of multiple Warrior errors and made big plays when they had to to turn the momentum around.

A kill by Dominique Lee staved off a match point and tied the score at 24. Two more NR errors put the game in KF’s column. Of KF’s 26 points in game three, 20 came via Warrior errors.

Fewer errors and a balanced team effort allowed the Warriors to put away game four. Back-to-back jump serve aces by Howard gave NR a 15-9 lead. By that point in the game, Briesemeister, Dan Archibald, Matt Schutz and Champigny each had two kills.

Still, the Bulldogs closed the gap and tied the match at 17 before one last Warrior rally was enough to take the match.

Lee had 11 assists for the Bulldogs (0-15, 0-15). Howard and Cubol each had 16 assists for NR. Champigny led NR (10-6, 9-6) with 15 kills; Briesemeister added 12.