Coach Jennifer Miller knew going into this three-game week that it would be a tough one for her lady Dark Horses, and while she thought they had some stellar performances against Midway and Topsail, she knew fatigue would catch up with them.

It did, and the Horses, on the road against East Duplin, couldn’t overtake the Lady Panthers. The JV lost in 3 — 25-20; 21-25; 25-5 — and the varsity fell in a three-set sweep — 25-8; 25-12; 25-14.

“We’re going to take the good, forget the bad and move forward,” Miller said after the game. “We knew this was going to be a hard week, and it really was. They played hard against Midway and Topsail so tonight, against East Duplin, they were simply worn out.”

The JV, she said, had good spurts but some missed hits caused them to lose momentum and eventually the game.

One of those spurts came in the second set when they came from behind to get the win. Strong serving from Jamie Jones was part of the reason. Jones had 10 service points in the game, the bulk of them coming in the second set.

In addition to Jones, Elizabeth Tsao had 5 aces.

The varsity girls were tired, too, and couldn’t get in sync. Again, Miller attributed to a difficult week, particularly playing back-to-back games against two of the stronger teams in their 2A conference.

“It just hasn’t been easy this week. They’ve held their own, but we’re just tired. We’ve got to get some rest and get back on track next week,” Miller said.

For the varsity Horses, Vivi Sarp had 6 digs; Tiandra Johnson, 3 kills; and Peyton Mitchell, 5 kills.

The Lady Horses move to 5-7 overall and 1-4 in the conference. They travel to Northside next Tuesday for a 4:30 p.m. game.