NEWBERRY — The Lady Bulldogs were in still search of their first win of the season entering Wednesday’s varsity volleyball match but came up short. Newberry(1-3, 1-1 region 3-AA) fell to Saluda(4-2-1, 0-1 region 4-AA) in a 3-0 sweep at home on Wednesday, Sept. 3rd.
Newberry got off to a strong start in the first set of Tuesday’s match, but they unfortunately could not keep it going. The Lady Bulldogs jumped out to an early 7-4 lead against the Lady Tigers. The visiting team would settle down and go on a 8-1 run to get their first lead of the set, 12-8.
Things would continue to go downhill for the home team as they found themselves trailing 21-11 after the good start. They would battle back behind senior Cheyanne Anderson’s good play. She was responsible for three consecutive points in the set including an ace to help the Lady Bulldogs climb back into the match. Unfortunately, that was not enough and Newberry dropped set one with a 25-19 loss.
The second set was all Saluda from start to finish. The visitors jumped out to a 4-1 lead and didn’t look back. Newberry did manage to keep it close and cut the deficit down to 21-15 after the Lady Tigers built a good lead. It was still not enough to overcome Saluda and they fell again 25-19 in the second set.
The Lady Bulldogs struggled and made a lot of mental mistakes in the third set. It wasn’t close and Saluda dominated the final set to earn the sweep. The Lady Tigers jumped out to a 5-1 lead and forced the Lady Bulldogs head coach Katelyn Heard to call a timeout.
The timeout didn’t help slow down the momentum of the visiting Tigers because they kept on adding to their lead. Their lead would reach double digits, 14-5, at one point and remain that way. They would close out the set with a 25-12 win. Also, one of Newberry’s key front line pieces went down with an injury at the start of the third set and didn’t return.
Newberry went on to defeat Columbia by taking three of four sets on the road to earn their first win of the season on Thursday, Sept. 3rd. The Lady Bulldogs will have a few days rest before returning back to action on Tuesday, Sept. 8 at home against Keenan.