The Midway volleyball team was back in action for the second day in a row as they hosted East Duplin in East Central 2A Conference play last Thursday. The Lady Raiders won the contest 3-1, but it didn’t come without some adversity.
The first set was all Midway as the Lady Raiders opened up with an early 8-3 lead to force an East Duplin timeout. The Lady Panthers seamed to settle in briefly thereafter, but Midway was able to rebound and stretch the lead to 14-6, yielding yet another ED timeout. The teams traded small spurts the rest of the way, but Midway went on to take the first set win, 25-17.
The Lady Raiders opened up set number two much the same way, opening with an early 4-0 lead to force the Lady Panthers into another timeout situation. Out of the timeout, Midway was suddenly a different team as the Lady Raiders found themselves rattled from unforced errors and untimely miscues. With the mistakes quickly mounting, East Duplin went on an 18-4 scoring run, taking an 18-8 lead much to the pleasure of he visiting fans.
Although the Lady Raiders went on to lose set number two, they didn’t just give up and make it easy for the Lady Panthers. Instead, Midway mounted a 17-6 scoring run of their own, crawling all the way back to take a 25-24 lead. Requiring the set to be won by two East Duplin was able to score three straight to win the set 27-25.
It was all Midway from that point on for the rest on the night. The Lady Raiders seemed to have reestablish their footing after their big comeback and went on to win the third set, punishing the Lady Panthers 25-12 to reclaim the lead at 2-1.
In the final fourth set, Midway’s domination continued, yielding another big win at 25-13.
“We started out strong in the first set, the best I’ve seen the girls play this season,” Midway head coach Brandy Wrench stated.
Wrench spoke highly of her opponent.
“Our team knew East Duplin was going to be big competition. We played them in a tournament in Swansboro and knew they have hard hitters and a hustling team. You can’t stop playing or take for granted that you’ve won the rally because they will pull a save out of nowhere. We didn’t start great the second set and had to fight back but still came up short in the end, but the girls came back playing hard for the next two set wins,” she concluded.
With the win, Midway now stands at 8-2 overall and 4-0 in league play. The Lady Raiders have a pair of non-conference games coming up this week. The first against South Johnston, scheduled for Monday, was canceled due to weather.