The North Moore volleyball team didn’t have much of a chance to prepare for its Yadkin Valley Conference schedule with only one non-conference match scheduled to open the season.

After falling to 2-A Providence Grove in their season opener last week, the Lady Mustangs started their league slate Tuesday, hosting South Stanly.

With second year coach Emily Coleman having to experiment with her young squad, North Moore fell 3-0 to the Lady Rebel Bulls.

“We’re still trying to figure out when and where to use the girls and in what situations,” said Coleman. “It’s tough when you have to do that playing conference teams. It makes it tough. We had too many unforced errors and we have to work on those things. We’re not taking what we do in practice to the games.

“Despite being young I feel confident that we’ll start to come around.”

The visiting South Stanly squad used good serving and a strong defense to open the first game, racing to a 12-5 lead.

Then senior Jalisa Davis stepped to the serving line and with a couple of aces, the Mustangs pulled to within three points. South Stanly pushed its lead back to six points before Mustang junior Dara Forrest put down a kill and served a couple of aces, trimming the Bulls’ lead to 14-12.

South’s serving once again started to find the open spaces on the court, taking them on to a 25-18 victory.

The second game started out with neither team able to gain much momentum. Then the Bulls’ serving started to click, pushing their lead to 10-4. Senior Mone’ Little’s serving got the Mustangs back to within two points. South’s lead continued to hover around a two- to three-point margin.

The Bulls once again built a seven-point lead. Little stepped to the serving line, produced a couple of aces, bringing her team to within three points at 21-18. South went on to outscore North 4-1 for a 25-19 victory in the second game.

The third game saw the Bulls sprint out to a 12-4 lead and later to a 12-point lead at 22-10. South went on to tally the necessary points for a 25-14 win and a three-game sweep.

Davis finished the contest for the Mustangs with six kills and four blocks, while junior middle hitter Dana Wolfe added four kills and Little two kills. Alex Williams had one block and three digs. The Mustangs’ libro, Payton Nall, led the team with six digs. Little finished the match with three aces, with Davis, Forrest and Nall two aces each.

In junior varsity action, the Mustangs fell behind 20-5 in the first game, but rallied to within 22-16 before falling 25-22.

The second game was nearly a replay of the first game with North Moore falling behind early, then rallying to tie the game at 23 before losing 25-23.

The Mustangs step out of league action when they host cross-county rival O’Neal Monday. The junior varsity match is scheduled to start at 4:30 p.m. followed by the varsity match.