Wilmington, NC - The Cape Fear women's volleyball team swept Louisburg College 3-0 Tuesday evening.
"One of our best games in a while," said head coach Emily Coleman afterwards. "I'm really, really pleased. We definitely pushed the tempo."
Cape Fear took the lead in the first set off a block by sophomore Amber Tyndall. They would gain the early momentum, jumping out to a 7-1 lead before Louisburg had to call timeout.
Louisburg would get back a couple of points, narrowing Cape Fear's lead to three at 7-4. The Sea Devils would then regain control, forcing the Hurricanes into making mistakes. The Sea Devils cleaned up their play, earning a number of points off of well developed attacks.
The Hurricanes hung around for the first half of the set, but the Sea Devils would eventually take control, limiting their opposition's chances by dictating where the ball went. The first set would end 25-12.
Sophomore Bailey Toman opened the second set with commanding kill. A few points later, Tyndall would finish off a well developed attack with a spike straight down into the opponent's half, giving Cape Fear an early 4-1 lead.
Aside from the occasional error, Cape Fear was dominant in the second set. They were able to score off of a number of attacks, and benefited from errors by Louisburg. When Louisburg called a timeout midway through the set, Cape Fear led 15-8.
Louisburg would earn a few points from that point, but would be unable to go on a run, and Cape Fear would go on to take the set 25-12.
The third and final set began much like the first two. Cape Fear gained the early lead, and would build on it.
However, Louisburg would come back, cutting the score to 9-6. Cape Fear would take the next four points, but Louisburg would answer with their own run, forcing coach Coleman to call timeout with the score 13-10.
"Louisburg started serving a little more aggressively, and we weren't ready for it," said Coleman. "They refused to let balls drop, and they just started playing a little bit harder."
Things would get worse for Cape Fear after the timeout, with Louisburg cutting the lead to just one. Playing with a lot of confidence, Louisburg held the momentum, putting Cape Fear on their heels.
The Sea Devils would gain some footing however, briefly taking an 18-14 lead. That four point margin would maintain itself as the set wore on, until Toman put her team in full control with a superb kill smashed into the back left corner.
Toman played one of her strongest games of the season tonight. "I did really well with connecting with my seters, and getting digs up."
The final set would end with Cape Fear on top, 25-18.
With today's victory, Cape Fear improves to 8-6 on the season, and 7-1 in conference play.
The Sea Devils will play again Thursday, September 29th, as they take on Pitt Community College on the road.
Courtesy of Nick Denning
