WENDELL - Fourth-year volleyball coach Susan Wall said a 0-4 record should even itself out quickly now that conference games are underway.

She made that statement despite falling three games to one in the first conference match of the year against newcomer Harnett Central Tuesday afternoon, but her optimism flowed from the fact that the Lady Warriors competed closely in every game.

The team dropped the first game to the Trojans 25-21, won the second 27-25, and fell in the third and fourth 25-10 and 25-19, respectively.

"I think that we should be in the top of our conference," she said. "Tonight was an indicator, and from things I've heard from Harnett Central they always have a really strong program, so I think we should be up there in the top. I hope they fulfill that and I think we will, it's just a matter of learning to change little things in the details of what we're doing."

East Wake came firing at the visitors out of the gate, opening up a 10-4 lead before giving in a bit and starting a game of tug of war for points that never ended until the final point of the match.

Harnett Central lingered about four points behind the home squad before hitting paces of four and five, points in a row to tie at 17. Trojans Emma Cotton and Tori Willifor combined services for the final six points of the first game, while East Wake could only tally two on Vanessa Aguirre's serves.

Harnett went up 3-1 in the second game, but the Lady Warriors were quick to tie and eventually take the lead after Jaquilla Lindsay dove in and dug up a sure Trojan point.

Then the tug of war set in. Five in a row dropped for the visitors, East Wake bounced back, and another five from the Trojans fell on Warrior miscommunication. But when the Lady Warriors needed help the most, the team rode Shelbey Bishop's serves like caffeine pills to the 25-25 tie before Aguirre and Alicia Farrior teamed up at the net for a block and the win.

The Trojans took advantage of more miscommunication from the Warriors in the third and fourth games and made the necessary plays to end the match. Harnett Central posted a pair of 4-point streaks and one 6-point streak in game three to cruise to the win, and technical errors plagued the home team.

The Lady Warriors got over the slump in the final game, keeping it tied at 10, 13 and 16, but appeared to lose focus when Harnett Central took the 6-point lead, 23-17. East Wake senior Katie Watkins laid out to attempt one final save, but the Trojan smack found the planks first.

Wall said the team lost power in key spots from last year to this season, but she's got some players that are stepping up to fill the void. She noted Melissa Cochran has, in many ways, filled the shoes of Shanae Winston, but the difference between the two is Winston was more of an all around player and Cochran is more specialized in the middle.

"I have different leadership, I have more seniors with more experience, and I think their communication with each other is very different and very good," Wall said. "They adjust and make changes real quick, versus having to wait on me to say 'Do this.' or 'Do that,' so they're easy to make changes, and the experience is going to help out a lot."

The Lady Warriors travel to Southeast Raleigh tomorrow (Thursday) to take on the Bulldogs at 5:30 p.m.