BURGAW — The Lady Eagles, sparked by a flurry of kills from Lacey Suggs, Lexie Mendell and Hannah DeVane, rallied after dropping the first game on Tuesday to sweep the next three against Pender County on the volleyball court.
The victory was East Bladen’s fifth straight and pushed its record to 9-7 overall and 6-4 in the Four County Conference. Those totals already surpass the Lady Eagles’ record from a season ago, when they finished 8-10, 5-9.
East Bladen battled through the first game, but came up short at 25-22 to the Lady Patriots. But the Lady Eagles took over from there and quickly turned the tables. They won the next three games by the scores of 25-14, 25-20 and 25-22.
Suggs led the way for East Bladen with 15 kills in the match, along with eight service winners and three aces. Mendell added eight kills along with eight service points, while DeVane contributed six kills and nine service points. The Lady Eagles tallied 36 kills in the match.
Miller Heustess filled the stat sheet with 17 assists and 14 service winners with three aces and Claire Campbell added seven service points and four kills. Abby Ward had nine service points.
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Clinton drops West
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In Dublin on Tuesday, Alanna Ludlum accounted for all or part of two wins against the visiting Lady Dark Horses of Clinton, but West Bladen could get nothing else and fell to the Four County Conference leaders, 7-2.
It was a mirror image of what took place when the two teams met in Clinton on Sept. 17.
Ludlum won her No. 1 singles match by a 6-2, 6-4 verdict and then teamed with Amber Long at No. 1 doubles to claim an 8-2 win.
In singles, Haley Dimery took a tough 6-2, 6-2 loss at No. 5 and Conner Brisson put up a big battle at No. 6 before falling 6-3, 6-4.
In doubles, Helen Lopez and Madison Singletary fell 8-4 at No. 2; Dimery and Brisson took a tough 8-7 (9-7) loss at No. 3.
The team loss drops the Lady Knights to 10-6 overall and 3-2 in the conference.