Clinton JV's Maria Thornton serves the ball, scoring a point for Clinton in Thursday's game against Croatan. (Stephanie Gore/Sampson Independent)

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Tiandra Johnson and Emily Wrench block a deep hit provided by Croatan's offense. (Stephanie Gore/Sampson Independent)

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The Clinton Lady Dark Horse volleyball teams split with Croatan in volleyball action Thursday.

JV

Behind the play of Skyler Ray (14 assist), Elizabeth Tsao (6 kills and 4 digs), Madison Mitchell (13 digs) and Zoe Harris (5 kills and 7 digs), the Lady JV Horses jumped out to a 25-9 first set victory and never let Croatan in the contest.

Clinton went on to win the next two games 25-14 and 25-18.

Varsity

Despite solid play from Tiadra Johnson (6 kills, 6 aces), Tori Tyndall (7 kills) and Spencer Norris (4 aces and 4 kills), the Lady Horses couldn’t seem to get the right combination of points together long enough to hold off a strong Croatan team. In the end, they fell 3-1. Final scores were: 18-25; 25-20; 11-25 and 20-25.

“I thought we played a great game,” said Clinton head coach Jennifer Miller. “We were in the first, second and fourth games and we stopped them from hitting in them. But, to their credit, Croatan has very hard hitters and we just were not able to get over some of those hits.”

With the loss, the varsity (8-10 overall and 3-6 in the conference) will play again Tuesday at Swansboro.

To reach Doug Clark call 910-592-8137 ext. 123 or email to sisports@heartlandpublications.com.