Lady Bulldogs stay on a roll

Published 10:23 pm Tuesday, September 14, 2010

King’s Fork’s Whitney Nichols hit for a team-high 14 kills Tuesday as the Lady Bulldogs won a five-set marathon at Oscar Smith 25-17, 22-25, 25-23, 22-25, 15-11. The Lady Bulldogs (4-3, 3-3) have won four of their last five contests.

CHESAPEAKE – King’s Fork’s girls volleyball team put together five straight points at the right moment Tuesday for a five-set victory over host Oscar Smith, 25-17, 22-25, 25-23, 22-25, 15-11.

After trailing 3-0 in the tiebreaker set, the Lady Bulldogs still were down 11-10 before coming up with the clinching rally.

On Whitney Nichols’ service, the Lady Bulldogs got kills by Megan Blythe and Monica Logwood for the final two points of the match. The win is the fourth out of five matches for the Lady Bulldogs (4-3, 3-3).

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The opening set belonged to King’s Fork and it seemed such a marathon wasn’t going to be needed.

Jamika Townsend set Nichols for two kills and Natalie Montgomery for two kills as KF jumped out to a 7-3 lead.

Oscar Smith worked back to within a point at 13-12 before the Lady Bulldogs won 11 of the next 13 points.

Townsend’s setting led KF early on. Crystal Collins had four kills and a block in the set, mostly during KF’s big run.

The Lady Tigers grabbed the momentum in the second set, getting out to a 14-7 lead.

King’s Fork rallied with a long run on Taylor Beale’s service to tie the set at 14. KF led for a point at 18-17, but Oscar Smith wound up taking the set and a back-and-forth contest was on.

The Lady Bulldogs, with an 8-0 run on Logwood’s serve, moved out to an 11-4 lead in the third set. Logwood served three aces in the streak, with Blythe adding two kills and Collins getting a kill and a block.

The Lady Tigers came all the way back and actually had a great chance to perhaps take control of the match.

With a 23-21 lead, Oscar Smith lost three straight points on hitting errors. KF took set point with its main duo, Townsend setting for a Nichols kill. Townsend finished with 23 assists and Nichols had 14 kills.

King’s Fork led 14-10 in the fourth set, but couldn’t hang on to the lead.

In the final set, the Lady Bulldogs didn’t get a lead until 8-7. The teams tied at eight, nine, 10 and 11 before the last bit of momentum went to the Lady Bulldogs.

Courtney Brown, who added more to the Lady Bulldog offense as the match progressed, finished with 12 assists.

In addition to Nichols’ hitting, the Lady Bulldogs got nine kills by Collins, six from Blythe and five each by Montgomery and Logwood.

King’s Fork will go for its fourth straight district victory Thursday, hosting Hickory at 6 p.m.