By Chris Baker

The Farmville Herald

The Cumberland High School girls volleyball team traveled to Central Lunenburg in hopes of extending to its five-game winning streak on Tuesday. The Lady Dukes succeeded with a 3-1 win over the Chargers.

The first game was hot and cold for both teams as Lunenburg found themselves down 19-14 and called a timeout. Whatever was said in the Charger huddle during the timeout seemed to work because they came back aggressively and took the lead at 22-21. Central Lunenburg went on to win game one against Lady Dukes, 25-22.

Cumberland looked to even the series in the second game but were slow to start. The Dukes were down 14-7 when an exciting back-and-forth sequence took place between the two teams. With a tie game in regulation, Cumberland needed two points to win the game. Allison Gilbert served the game-winning point, evening the series to a win each.

Cumberland controlled the third game as Bria Anderson started to find opportunities for her 14 total kills. Gilbert served nicely in the 25-5 win over the Chargers in the third game.

Now leading the series 2-1, the Lady Dukes went into their fourth game against Central Lunenburg much more confident and assertive. Anderson and Kyera Broxton complimented each other well in this game as the Cumberland team found an early lead. Broxton had 10 assists in the game, most of which to Anderson in the final game of the series.

The Dukes won the series 3-1.

Anderson finished the night with 11 serves and 30 hits, which accompanied her 14 kills. Broxton also had 58 sets.

“Central came out strong in the first and second set. My girls came in overconfident and Bluestone came in ready to play,” said CHS coach Heather Sutton. “They put us on our heels from the start and my girls took the first two sets to figure out how to handle their intensity. Thankfully we were able to regain our bearings and pull out the win in four sets, but I have to give Central credit. They played and fought hard last night. It was a good night to learn a lesson.” 

The Cumberland volleyball team will travel to Bluestone to pursue win number seven on their winning-streak. The (8-1) Lady Dukes play the (1-6) Lady Barons at 6:30 p.m.