Jeff Linville | The Mount Airy News

Surry Central’s Courtney Hegler goes high to hit the ball around the side pole against Alleghany Wednesday. Meagan Hutson, left, and Brittany Lewis look on.

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DOBSON — Surry Central has split its two matches so far this week.

The Lady Eagles beat South Stokes Tuesday, then lost a nonconference match to Alleghany Wednesday.

Central won the first game against the Lady Trojans, then lost three straight.

Alleghany (9-6) swept Mount Airy Sept. 5 and came within a 15-13 fifth set of beating East Surry last week.

Alleghany showed good floor coverage whether the Eagles hit, tipped or pushed shots over the net, noted Central Coach Carrie Hutchens.

Between the visitors’ defense and poor passing, the Eagles didn’t have enough kills to beat a good team, said Hutchens.

“That’s where the game starts, with the pass,” she said. “And we just couldn’t do it.”

The Eagles needed to bring their A game, but they only showed it in the first set, she said.

Central went up 5-2 in the first frame, but Alleghany went on a 13-3 run for a 15-8 lead that drew a timeout from Hutchens.

At 16-9, Alleghany hit a spike that just caught the top of the net. The ball rolled over and looked like it would fall untouched to the floor.

Middle hitter Brittany Lewis lunged out with a fist and bumped the ball into the air. Central hit the ball back over and found a soft spot in the defense. The home crowd roared its approval at the hustle, and the team appeared to get pumped up.

That sparked a run to close the gap to 18-16, drawing a timeout from Alleghany.

From 19-17, the Eagles scored seven straight points behind Cassidy Joyner’s serve and won the set 25-22.

Joyner finished 20-24 with six aces on the night.

Unfortunately, the Eagles would trail most of the time in each of the next three games, losing 20-25, 19-25 and 20-25.

“There were too many mistakes on our side tonight,” admitted Hutchens.

The Trojans put together runs in every game. An 11-3 run in the second game put Alleghany up 15-10 and they would maintain that five-point cushion.

In the third frame, Central scored a couple of points to close to 20-18, but the Trojans finished on a 5-1 spurt.

The front line had a few blocks, but there were other times when the blocks weren’t strong enough, believed Hutchens. Several balls hit the defenders’ hands, but came down on the home team’s side.

Lewis and Kaitlin Kidd led the defense with three stuff blocks each, and Joyner had two.

Hutchens said libero Kendra Johnson was awesome for the team in this game, posting 24 digs and going 13-14 at the service line.

Courtney Hegler also was big for the team, she said. Hegler had eight kills, 10 digs and was 5-7 serving with an ace.

Joyner added 14 digs and Kidd six.

Joyner also had six kills, Lewis had seven, Kidd six, Kesley Taylor three and setter Meagan Hutson had three on quick hits over the net.

Hutson led the team with 12 assists, Holly Mason had nine and Kidd two.

“The serves were great, I have no complaints there,” said Hutchens. Lewis was 5-5 with two aces, Kidd 6-7, and Hutson 16-16 with one ace.

While the team is disappointed with the loss, this match doesn’t hurt Central’s standing in a close Northwest Conference.

North Surry is first with an 11-0 mark. East Surry is second at 9-1. The Eagles are 9-4 overall, 8-2 Northwest, and have a rematch with East Surry on Oct. 4.

After North Stokes, Mount Airy is fifth, so the four local schools make up four of the top five spots in the Northwest.

On Tuesday, Surry Central downed South Stokes in four, going 25-13, 25-18, 21-25 and 25-17.

Three players had double-digit digs. Joyner led with 15, Johnson 14, Kidd 10, Hegler six and Brooke Lewis four.

Joyner had 10 kills, Hegler seven, Kidd six, Brittany Lewis five, Taylor three and Tori Blevins two.

Setting them up were Hutson with 19 assists, and Mason and Kidd with five each.

Taylor and Kidd each had four stuff blocks. Joyner had two and Hegler and Brittany Lewis had one each.

Brittany’s stuff was a big one, said the coach. The Sauras had a back-row attack, and Brittany slammed it down like it was a set, she described.

At the service line, Joyner was 21-24,Hutson 16-17, Johnson 11-12, Taylor 7-7, Brittany Lewis 8-10, Hegler 8-10, Kidd 6-7 and Mason 4-4.

“We played very well,” she said. “We talked, we moved.”

She said the front line put the ball down when and where they needed to. The whole team made the smart plays and made her very proud.

Reach Jeff Linville at jlinville@heartlandpublications.com or at 719-1920.