BUCKINGHAM – The Buckingham County High School's stint in the Region B, Division 2 Volleyball Tournament came to an end in the Quarterfinal round on Tuesday night with a 3-1 (25-19, 16-25, 25-17, 25-11) loss to Appomattox.

The Lady Knights, who won their first-ever trophy in the sport of volleyball last week, with a runner-up finish in the James River District Tournament, played well in spots against Appomattox – a team they lost to twice earlier in the season – but were unable to stop late-set runs by the Lady Raiders in an attempt to reverse their fortunes against their neighboring rivals.

“We made too many mistakes,” said BCHS head coach Ethan Abruzzo. “We weren't as focused as we should've been in practice, and it showed up in the game. We played well in the second set, but didn't sustain it in the third and fourth.

“They forced us into errors, because we didn't force them to make errors.”

Buckingham committed 13 service errors and 17 attack errors.

“That's 30 points we gave them, and some of them came at crucial times.”

Tied at 13-apiece in the second set, Buckingham began to pull away by capitalizing on several Appomattox errors. A kill by Sarah Frazier put BC ahead 16-14, as BCHS slowly built a lead. Up 20-16, BCHS got control of the serve and went on to victory, aided by a block and a kill by Kim Warner.

Buckingham jumped out to an 8-3 lead in the third set with a 5-0 run, but Appomattox chipped away at the BC lead. A kill by Katelyn Gough helped pull the Lady Knights to within two points at 16-14, but Appomattox strung together a 5-0 run to take control of the set.

The fourth set started out pretty much the same way. Buckingham scored the first three points, and trailed 8-7 on an Appomattox service error, but BC wasn't able to score points on its own during the middle of the match to string anything together. By the time that Warner scored on a block to pull the Lady Knights to 20-10, ACHS held a commanding lead and was on their way to the semifinal round.

“It's frustrating, not only for me, but for the girls too, because we saw how well we could play against them in the second set, and in some of the other sets too. We were just too inconsistent, and you can't do that against a good team like Appomattox.”

Frazier led Buckingham with ten kills, eight assists and three blocks, while Warner registered five kills, four aces and three blocks.

After a slow start, Buckingham rallied in James River District play to finish the 2010 season with a 7-13 record.

“We had a couple of firsts for us, and that's a positive, and down the road, we'll look and see some more positives, but right now, it just seems like an opportunity lost. Still, it's been a good year for us, and we have something to build on.”