Albemarle snapped the North Moore volleyball team’s three-match winning streak in a Yadkin Valley Conference contest Thursday in Robbins.

With two straight-set wins to start the week, North Moore had swept its last three opponents heading into Thursday’s tilt against the Lady Bulldogs (12-1, 9-0).

Fresh off the heels of 25-13, 25-21, 25-10 nonconference victory against Jordan Matthews to start the week, the Mustangs topped league foe North Rowan 25-13, 25-21, 25-10 Tuesday to move to 6-3 overall and 5-3 in YVC play.

North Moore head coach Melissa Cox feels her team has been playing well recently.

“The girls are starting to play more as a team,” Cox said, “but there are those mental mistakes we have to fix.”

In Thursday’s 25-22, 25-14, 25-17 loss, North Moore battled to tie the score at 21-21 in the first set. But the Mustangs then lost four of the final five points of the game. After losing the second set by an 11-point margin, North Moore roared out to a 6-1 lead only to allow Albemarle to score 10 points during their first serve.

With the loss, the Mustangs are now 6-4 overall and 5-4 in their conference. Senior Jamie Garner had 10 digs, eight kills and two blocks Thursday.

“Jamie has been passing really well, which has helped us a lot,” said Cox. “She also is able to get Coco (Shakorya Brower) the ball, and when Coco hits it, she hits it well.”

Brower, who Cox said was the team’s hardest hitter, finished with nine kills and four blocks on the night for North Moore. Meanwhile, Cadie Lowe and Katelyn Sheffield combined for 17 kills.

“Kaitlyn and Cadie have stepped up as leaders on the floor, they really have to be as setters,” said Cox. “Caroline Childers is our libero and she is a great passer — when she is on it helps our team follow through with our ‘pass, set and hit’ strategy, which is what I expect out of them on every ball.”

Lowe finished the night with 10 assists and four digs, while Sheffield tallied seven assists and five digs. Senior Jennifer Ryan and Childers each had nine digs in the match to lead the Mustangs in that statistical category.

Despite the loss, Cox feels her team played well against Albemarle.

“Albemarle is a great team with really talented girls,” she said, “but my girls really showed their improvement during this match. Like I have said before there are just some mental mistakes we are making such as serves, balls hit in the net and other small details we have to work on as we move forward.”

North Moore takes to the road Tuesday for its next match against YVC rival West Montgomery.

Contact F.W. Manning II at frankwm2@gmail.com.