With little on the line except for pride and late-season momentum, the trending Nansemond River High School boys’ volleyball team upset a cross-town rival and conference powerhouse on Thursday.

The Warriors had lost once this season to King’s Fork High School, which went on to capture the regular-season conference championship on Tuesday and carried an 8-1 conference record into Thursday’s rematch with the host Warriors.

With its post-season seeding already locked up, King’s Fork might not have been completely focused on the match, and the Warriors capitalized on the opportunity.

“I think they underestimated Nansemond River,” KF head coach Joseph Burns said of his players.

The Warriors prevailed on senior night, 25-18, 19-25, 25-21, 25-19, extending their win streak to five matches, and improving their record to 6-10 overall and 5-4 in the conference.

Nansemond River head coach James Vann was pleased to see the teamwork he had been expecting from his players. “They’re finally starting to gel,” he said.

“Tonight we actually played for ‘us,’” senior setter Evan Gardner said.

This meant passes were improved, helping to create what Gardner called the Warriors’ best match this season.

“They’re definitely a better team than when we played them the first time,” Burns said. “They’ve come a long way.”

Nansemond River sophomore Josh Tomovik had 12 kills and five digs, senior Adrian Drew had 10 kills and five digs and senior Adrian Coleman contributed nine kills and four blocks. Senior D.J. Anders had five kills and four blocks, and Gardner ended up with 25 assists and five digs.

Drew said the Warriors came in wanting to set the record straight about how good they were. “We went out there knowing we shouldn’t have lost to those guys in the first place,” he said.

Nansemond River has turned its conference record around by beating some teams that originally beat them. Gardner explained the slow start compared to last year by citing how the 2012 squad featured several baseball players who had played together on the diamond and had a pre-established chemistry.

“This year we had a lot of guys coming from different areas,” he said, including basketball, baseball and soccer.

Drew said the team had a great desire not to lose, “especially on senior night.”

For the Bulldogs, junior Dale Roscoe had seven kills and six blocks, senior Mark Kluck had six kills and four blocks, sophomore Chris Roscoe had five kills and junior Cal Bailey had 10 assists.

King’s Fork (13-9, 8-2) has completed its regular season schedule, but Nansemond River has one last contest, a make-up match on Tuesday at Phoebus High School.