South Johnston downs Princeton in straight sets
2 min read
PRINCETON — The South Johnston varsity volleyball team turned away Princeton in straight sets 25-19, 25-18, 25-17 on the road Monday in the season opener for both teams.
The Trojans came out swinging and took a 12-6 lead in set one. The Bulldogs played catch-up the entire match, and when they did have the lead they couldn’t close it out.
“We were slow,” ninth year head coach Paige Renfrow said. “We have been playing uptempo. We have been playing a really strong defensive game, and tonight we came out flat. Too lackadaisical, too laid back and just a step slow.”
The quickness and defense around the net helped the Trojans prevail. South Johnston’s resiliency helped them fight back in the second set after falling behind 13-7. 13th year head coach Matthew Adams said he was proud of girls.
“We came in here knowing it was going to be a challenge, but I feel like this is a season and a team that we’ve been building for,” Adams said. “We had a couple of lulls here and there, but I thought that were mentally tough enough to stay with it.”
Adams recalled the 2016 season when the team bottomed out and won just three games. After winning 12 games last season, Adams believes this senior class who was a part of that 3-win team as freshmen will lead his team to a special season.
“This is a season and a team that we’ve been building for,” Adams said. “We’ve slowly been progressing and getting back. We got five seniors that have been a big part of that rebuilding providing leadership for us. We have a lot of offensive weapons. I thought we received serve very well tonight and when you pass the ball well to target, you got a chance to run whatever you want.”
The Bulldogs are coming off a 15-4 season, which ended in the second round of the postseason last year. Renfrow said she is encouraged by the fact that her team lost to the Trojans to start the year last season and believes they will play better.
“We try to schedule games that are tough competition, because we want to have strong nonconference so we can be prepared for the strong teams in the conference and in the playoffs,” Renfrow said. “We can learn from this. They had our number in the middle. We can take a lot back and work on it.”
