Eagles advance in 1A volleyball playoffs

By Brandon Davis
Published in Sports on October 24, 2015 11:08 PM

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Rosewood made the first two sets look easy Saturday afternoon.

The third set -- not so much.

But the Eagles held on to defeat Oxford Preparatory 25-12, 25-14, 25-22 in the opening round of the N.C. High School Athletic Association 1-A volleyball playoffs.

"We got a little complacent in the third game," Eagles head coach Jennifer Cochran said. "I thought the first and second game, we played well."

Cochran called a timeout with her team leading Oxford 9-6 in the third set.

"Just complacent," she said. "Just being satisfied where we are so we talked about, 'You can't be too complacent like that because you're not gonna come back from that'."

Simple mistakes made by Rosewood in the third set, and service aces from freshman Kaci Roberson and sophomore Olivia Brown pulled Oxford to within one point, 12-11.

Rosewood senior Lexi Mercer recorded five kills and one block, and sophomore Tayzlie Tripple had three kills before Oxford got within three points, 21-18, in the third set.

Fortunately for the Eagles, Oxford made simple mistakes as well. Tripple recorded her third block of the match to end the set.

Mercer ended the game with 15 kills and two blocks, while Tripple had eight kills. Rosewood recorded 32 kills as a team.

Sophomore Macy Tyndall had five digs. Freshman Kaitlyn Kincaid had 15 assists. Juniors Ada Rivera, Hailey Weeks and Kendall Gurley combined for 10 aces.

"I thought the bench people did a good job coming into the game," Cochran said. "I thought number 13 (Gurley) did a great job keeping us from the service line."

Rosewood (15-9 overall) travels to fourth-seeded Louisburg on Tuesday.

"We'll practice Monday," Cochran said. "That's really all you can do. Just practice."