Lady Warriors’ early barrage not enough to get by Centre Lady Cougars

Peabody-Burns fans attending Saturday’s substate volleyball tournament at Lebo could be forgiven if they started peeking ahead during the Lady Warriors’ opening set against Centre. Leading 10-2, later 17-10, Peabody-Burns looked like a team with a solid shot to advance.

The Lady Warriors’ first strong run began after taking a 3-2 lead on a Centre service fault. With Aubrey Craig serving, Peabody-Burns reeled off three quick points, including a Craig ace that caused Centre to take a time-out.

Tori Pickens stepped to the fore when the teams came back onto the court. She scored on a kill, played a clever push shot to a hole in the Centre defense for another point, and after a Lady Cougars’ miscue slammed a cross-court kill to put Peabody-Burns up 10-2.

Centre closed to within 10-7, but another Pickens kill gave the ball back to Peabody-Burns. Breanna Lett followed with a dink down the line, and Peabody-Burns extended its lead to 13-7.

With Taylor Wallace serving, the Lady Warriors ran their lead to 17-10, forcing another Centre time-out.

When the teams came back out onto the floor, the Lady Cougars began chipping into the lead, with neither team hitting a rhythm until Centre’s Jayden Hallowell stepped up to serve with her team trailing 20-17.

After a kill and two miscues by the Lady Warriors, the score was tied 20-20. Adrianna Newman had a shot at stopping the Centre rally, but her kill attempt sailed out. Centre picked up another point before a service fault left the Lady Warriors trailing 22-21.

Peabody-Burns tied it at 22, but Centre closed out the game with a 25-22 win.

After being tied 4-4 in the second game, Peabody-Burns fell behind 10-5. A score by Kayla Page got the Lady Warriors back to within11-8 before Centre reeled off another run to lead 17-9.

The Lady Warriors didn’t give up, and when Sydney Hodges caught the Lady Cougars off guard with a backward return for a score, Peabody-Burns had closed the gap to 18-15.

But Centre closed out the game and match with a 7-2 run to win 25-17.

The Lady Warriors ended their season with a 2-29 record.