WORTON — A new formation and a new can-do mindset have carried the Trojans to the semifinal round of the Class 1A East Region II high school volleyball tournament.
On Wednesday, Kent County upset host Pocomoke, 3-1.
Next up is another road trip, this time to No. 2 seed Snow Hill on Friday.
This will be a rematch of Kent County’s regular-season finale on Oct. 21, when Snow Hill rallied from a set down to prevail, 3-2, amid controversy in the decisive 17-15 fifth set.
Yesterday at Pocomoke, the Trojans had to dig deep to avert an early exit from the tournament.
Set scores were 31-29, 12-25, 25-23 and 25-22.
In the first set, Kent County opened the door for Pocomoke (6-9) after squandering a five-point lead.
Coach Michelle Phillips called a time-out and frankly told her players, “If you lose this set, you cannot come back from this.”
Down a set, Pocomoke stormed back to easily take the second set after scoring the first seven points.
It was back and forth the rest of the way, with Kent County ultimately coming out on top.
“They stuck together and worked it out,” Phillips said of the Trojans in an interview Thursday.
She handed out high marks to setter Emerence “Emmie” Boutaud, blockers Love Jackson, Aaliyah Dawson, Zadalyn Spittel and Laila Sidky, and libero Angel Cote.
Phillips singled out Cote for “showing leadership without frustration.”
“The biggest thing I said to my teammates was ‘keep pushing.’ No matter how high or how low we got, all we had to do was believe,” Cote told The Evening Enterprise in an interview Thursday.
On only one day of practice, the Trojans showed a new formation at Pocomoke — essentially one setter and five hitters.
The starters were Hallie Beattie as the first server; Boutaud as setter; Dawson as middle hitter; Sidky as outside hitter; Marie Parrish in the back as a defensive specialist; and Cote as libero.
Jackson rotated in for Beattie on the front row and Izzy Anderson subbed in on the front row for Parrish.
This is the formation the Trojans used in the marathon first set, the third and fourth sets, which they won.
The “old” formation was scrapped after the Trojans used it for the second set, without much success.
Of the match in general, Phillips said, “We limited our errors and I think we were the better team in terms of fundamentals.”
She complimented Pocomoke for its hustle, scrappiness and “awesome setter.”
Kent County improved to 2-13 with eight losses to larger Class 2A schools in the North division of the Bayside Conference, including unbeaten Queen Anne’s, the three-time defending overall conference champion.
“If we were in the South (portion of the Bayside), we’d have a better record,” Phillips said.
In hindsight, she said, the matches against the 2A schools during the regular season served a purpose as “practice” for the Class 1A tournament.
NOTES: Pocomoke swept Snow Hill (8-7) during the home-and-away series of the regular season, 3-2 and 3-1.
Colonel Richardson (4-12) defeated Mardela (3-13) in the other first-round match Wednesday, 3-1, and now will face top seed North Dorchester (9-6) in tomorrow’s other semifinal.
The region final is Nov. 6 at the higher seed.