LEXINGTON — For the second consecutive home game, Davidson County Community College had to wait for its opponent to arrive Tuesday evening at Brinkley Gym. Head coach Kevin Hammond is still awaiting the arrival of his highly touted recruiting class.

Wake Tech overcame a 2-1 deficit to steal a win in five sets, 26-24, 16-25, 23-25, 26-24, 15-12, as the Storm could not overcome an injury to one of its hard hitters, and the Eagles devised the perfect plan to stop the power attack of DCCC.

Outside hitter Lauren Leonard went down with an ankle sprain in the third set with DCCC up 11-7. The Storm held on to win the set and go up 2-1, but the loss of Leonard on the outside took its toll as the Eagles won the final two games to beat Davidson for the second time this season.

“You count on key players and you build your offense around certain people,” Hammond said. “Lauren has power in the left hand and when it is gone you have to go to the well and dig somewhere else. Our biggest problem, though, was we would lose momentum just as fast as we got it tonight, and that is something we need to work on as a team.”

The match could have easily ended in straight sets in favor of DCCC, but a letdown by the Storm allowed Wake Tech to jump ahead 1-0.

DCCC (2-3) had two set points in hand leading 24-22, but never put another mark on the board with three errors to close. Leonard had her spike go into the net to tie it at 24, then Katie Watkins hit long and Leonard could not come up with the handle to give the set away.

“I told them after that first game we have a team of superstars that are not playing as one,” Hammond said. “We need to get back to the basics and playing fundamental volleyball.”

They listened, blistering the ball and blocking shots to win 25-16 in game two.

The win in the third game put them one step away from defeating the Division I team, but errors would be their downfall. DCCC took what appeared to be a 8-5 lead as Whitley Saintsing stuffed a Wake Tech spike, but the Storm were ruled to have hit out of order, sending the point the other way.

Trailing 21-20, two bad serves by Davidson gave Tech some breathing room and the mistakes were costly. A long rally later in the game finished by a Shannon Mayo tip tied the game at 24 apiece, but a Watkins hit sailed long and the Storm were unable to handle the serve to finalize the set for the guests.

“If you can’t serve and pass, you are not going to win,” Hammond said. “I don’t care if it is middle school, high school or Olympics, it is not going to happen.”

Wake Tech settled into a defense in the fifth set that took away the strengths of DCCC, as they never trailed in the final game.

“Unfortunately, they were in a perimeter defense and that is what you play in against a power team like ours,” said Hammond. “Every angle was covered on the floor.”

Sports Editor Zach Kepley can be reached at 888-3631, or at kepley@tvilletimes.com.