Rosewood spikers turn back Spring Creek

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on September 11, 2013 1:48 PM

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SEVEN SPRINGS -- County rivals Rosewood and Spring Creek learned a few things about themselves and each other during their Carolina 1-A Conference volleyball match Tuesday afternoon.

The Eagles need to finish off an opponent.

The Gators must find a solution to their serve receive.

And when they meet a second time, they'll have a better idea about how each team operates offensively. Senior middle hitter Ellen Morgan cranked out a match-high 16 kills, leading Rosewood to a 25-14, 25-15, 14-25, 25-10 victory.

"Rosewood is a well-coached team, they always are and they have some talent over there," Gators head coach Deanna Morris said. "Ellen was just tremendous. I was impressed."

Anna Ingram dished out 20 assists for the Eagles, who have won all 11 regular-season meetings against the Gators since 2007. Sophomore Lexi Mercer and Ingram combined for five of Rosewood's seven team blocks.

The Eagles served 19 aces -- a statistic that bothered Morris. Rosewood used 10-point runs to put away Spring Creek during the first, second and fourth sets.

"Our serve receive, we've got to get some better passes up so we can stop those runs," said Morris. "We were strong on the outside, but I don't think we got enough sets on the outside like we should have. You've got to have the passes to get it up there, too.

"(The runs) just deflated our balloon."

Second-year starter Rachel McCullom emerged Spring Creek's offensive spark with 11 kills, while senior Sarah Ford contributed six kills. Ford and Diana Carreno combined for 20 assists in the four-set affair.

Rosewood owned a decisive 41-22 advantage in total kills.

Down two sets, the Gators (6-2 overall, 3-2 CC) came out clicking offensively in the third set. Ford's off-speed shot off Carreno's save in midcourt started a 10-4 run. McCullom pounded out three kills during that stretch.

Spring Creek's lead swelled to 15-5 on two aces and another McCullom kill.

"We weren't playing as a team in the third set," Rosewood head coach Jennifer Cochran said. "It was bad, bad teamwork. Sometimes we take stuff off the court onto the court and I don't think the first two sets it came out.

"Spring Creek stepped it up in the third set and I think those attitudes started to come out a little bit. We just didn't work together well at all, but I thought we did a good job coming back in the fourth set."

Rosewood (10-1, 4-1) opened the deciding set with a 6-1 run that started with Mercer's solo block of McCullom on the right side. The Gators continued to trail by five points throughout the set until the Eagles finished it off with a 10-0 run.

Mercer provided two kills and a solo block.

"Lexi did a good job of pulling the team together in the fourth set," Cochran said.