Eagles soar over Cougars
North Point volleyball sweeps Thomas Stone
Thursday evening, the North Point eagles volleyball team traveled to Thomas Stone and took care of business in straight sets to down the Cougars 2513, 25-8, 25-4 in a Southern Maryland Athletic Conference Potomac Division match.
“The win today was great,” North Point’s Alanah Johnson said. “We came together as a team. We just finished strong and hustled through.”
The Eagles (5-9, 4-1 SMAC Potomac) raced out to a 3-2 lead in the first set before the Cougars earned the next two points to gain their only lead of the night.
Gi’Anna Reed served an ace to put Thomas Stone ahead 4-3. North Point stormed back and regained the lead at 7-5.
“We did a lot of talking and a lot of moving and that helped us,” Johnson said.
The Eagles began to pull away from the Cougars and led 15-8 before Stone head coach Tynisha Payton called a timeout. Out of the timeout, the Cougars were able to grab the first two points before North Point ran away with the first set 25-13.
“It was a good win,” Eagles head coach Sara Young said. “We were coming off of a really big win from last night (a fiveset win over Calvert on Oct. 24), so we definitely carried that momentum into this one.”
Micaela Morrison began the second set with an ace for North Point. Stone kept the score close early on in the second and the Eagles were unable to extend their lead beyond two points after leading 6-4, 7-5, and then 8-6 until Allegria Wahle strung together a run of points on her serve to help the visitors pull away.
Wahle aced the Cougars twice within five points and Payton called a timeout after North Point’s lead grew to 15-7.
Out of the timeout, the Eagles were able to maintain their momentum and closed out the set strongly. Morrison ended the second set the same way she started it by serving an ace on set point. The Eagles closed out the second set 25-8 after winning 17 of the last 18 points.
“It was really a chance for our girls to practice their offense and get some big swings on into the game so it was good,” Young said.
North Point began the third set strong and raced out to a quick 4-0 lead before Payton called a timeout.
The Eagles led 14-0 before Stone earned its first point in the final set. The Cougars fought hard to comeback, but North Point prevailed 25-4 to earn the straight sets victory.
“This has been a really tough season actually, but we ended really well,” North Point’s Melanie Battle said. “We went through a few rough patches, but we finished pretty strong. We are really looking forward to playoffs and I am extremely proud of my team.”
The Eagles received the fifth seed in Class 4A East Region Section II and will be at fourth-seeded Annapolis in a section quarterfinal contest later this week.
“We are looking good going into the playoffs,” Young said. “We had a bit of a rocky start, but we are definitely in the place we need to be going into the postseason.”
Stone (0-13, (0-6) is looking to continue to rebuild their team for success in the future. The Cougars are the sixth seed in 2A South Section II and will be at third-seeded Calvert in a section quarterfinal contest later this week.
“There were some highlights of the game,” Payton said. “Jada Daniels and Cerina Cobey had a big block, but we are rebuilding. So since we are still in the rebuilding stages, this is what we have.”