CREEKSVILLE – It has been a good week to be a Ram.

Northampton-East’s varsity volleyball team grabbed a pair of wins over area rivals Monday and Tuesday, knocking off Hertford County in straight sets before sweeping a double-header with county rival Northampton-West.

In Monday’s contest, Jo Ann Rose got the Lady Rams started on the right foot, scoring four consecutive points off her serve, with none of them being returned. Moments later a Corrie Bridgers’ winner gave Mindy Drewette the serve and her ace made it 6-1.

Shanika Mason rolled off six straight points for the Lady Rams, five of which weren’t returned and the sixth of which Drewette provided a backline kill to make it 13-2.

After Bridgers’ serve made it 16-4, the Lady Bears had their best rally of the set. Courtney Price delivered a defensive winner and set the stage for a three-point rally off Deborah Dent’s serve, which cut the advantage to 16-7.

The two teams exchanged defensive stops until Rose had a kill followed by three consecutive serves that weren’t returned to help the Lady Rams go on to a 25-15 win.

In set number two, it was the serve of Drewette that paced NCHS-East. She had six straight points, five of which were not returned to help East go up 7-0.

HCHS rallied thanks to solid serving from Shaquanda Majette and Lannette Robinson, cutting the lead to 10-7 following a Robinson ace.

The score stayed within a couple points until Drewette took the serve for the Lady Rams and rolled off five straight points to push the advantage to 19-11.

The Lady Bears got within 22-14 on a Price kill, but East went on to win the set 25-15.

&uot;We played well in the third set, but before that our passes were off,&uot; HCHS coach Teknika Holloman said. &uot;When your passing is off, your setters can’t set and your hitters can’t hit. We played better, but not enough to finish the set.&uot;

Indeed it was Hertford County who controlled the tempo throughout the early part of the third set. Ashley Fountain and Crista Taylor each had aces for the Lady Bears while it was digs from Bridgers and Rose that helped East. The two teams were deadlocked at nine midway through the match.

HCHS took the lead on the serving of Amber Moore. She had a pair of points, one of which came when Price had two excellent digs to save points. Fountain then had a pair of aces to push the Lady Bear lead to 19-15.

Northampton began to rally when Bridgers took the serve and rolled off five straight points, four of which were not returned to make it 21-19.

A Price kill cut it to 21-20, but the Lady Bears couldn’t take advantage as Jessica Price had a pair of points on serve. Rose ended the match with her kill to give the Lady Rams a 25-21 win.

&uot;Our hustle has been unbelievable this year,&uot; East coach David Hasty said. &uot;Today, Jo Ann Rose continued to step up in her leadership roll. It’s probably the first time she’s led the team in kills.&uot;

Hasty said he was also pleased with Mason’s play and the great defense played by Jalisa Parker and Amanda Bethel.

Tuesday afternoon the Rams were back on the floor when they disposed of the rival Hurricanes. East won 25-11 and 25-8 in the first match and then took a 25-11, 22-25, 25-13 victory in the second match.

Mason led the way for East in both matches, combining for 10 kills and six aces. Drewette was also solid, putting away three kills while serving seven aces.

Rose had a pair of kills and six aces while Price had nine kills and two aces. Parker had eight kills and two aces while Bridgers had two kills and one ace.

The Lady Rams will host Weldon in a Tar-Roanoke Conference match at 5 p.m. today.