Sea Devils Fall To Catawba Valley CC In Five

Wilmington, NC - The Cape Fear volleyball team travelled to Hickory, NC to play Catawba Valley Community College this past Friday. The Sea Devils swept CVCC in the first set 25-12 as middle blocker Juliann Shirley had three blocks and two kills in the first minutes of the game. Jenna Baranowski contributed five kills and two aces, while sophomore Jessica Moore finished the first set with four kills of her own.

Game two did not run as smoothly for the Lady Sea Devils dropping the second set 17-25. "We had complete control the first game and CVCC took it right back in the second," says Coach Pompeani. "We were really weak running out of system plays and they took full advantage of that."

In the third set, the teams battled point for point with Catawba Valley coming out on top again 25-22. "We played well at times, but we can't pick and choose when we want to compete," said freshman outside hitter Maddie Garner. Garner finished the match hitting 78 percent while collecting three blocks. With several unforced errors at the beginning of the set, the Sea Devils had to fight to come back for the win as Cape Fear took game four 25-21. At 21-21, Casey Salchert and Jordan Gilmore pushed ahead to finish the game with a kill and a block respectively.

The Sea Devils won the choice of serve in the fifth game and carried over their momentum from the previous game to switch sides with a 8-6 lead. They maintained control to 12-10 before Catawba Valley CC called a time out. Moore and Baranowski each finished the set with four kills, but it wasn't enough to end the match in Cape Fear's favor. The Sea Devils dropped their lead and Catawba Valley earned the victory, 15-12 in the fifth game.

"We let ourselves get down and then we were unable to pick it back up," said freshman defensive specialist, Ashley Johnson. Bryana Garcia agreed that her team's mentality wasn't where it needed to be, "We need to stay together in each game and stay positive. We had moments of greatness but in the end, it just wasn't enough." Salchert finished the match with 46 assists and Juliann Shirley contributed 7 total blocks. Baranowski had four aces and fourteen kills while earning 15 digs for her team. Moore added, "We played strong at times but we couldn't click as a team. We will work hard in practice to iron out what we need to do to get better. " Moore finished the night with 12 kills, hitting .257 percent.

The Sea Devils travel to Lenoir Community College this Tuesday, September 20th, game slated for 7:00 p.m