A boisterous crowd fueled by members of the Warren Central football team helped make the Lady Vikes debut in their first-ever home volleyball match a success.

Warren Central rallied late in the two final sets to beat Yazoo City 3-0 (25-16, 25-23, 25-22) Thursday evening.

It was the first home game for WC after playing its first seven on the road. The team had been scheduled to play at home two weeks ago, but maintenance work on the gym postponed it.

WC has’s next home match is Monday at 6:30 p.m. against Wingfield.

WC junior center Brooke Kistler said the home crowd made a big difference, especially when the Lady Vikes trailed 21-19 in the second set and 17-13 in the third.

“The spirit of the crowd and the football guys really lifted us up,” Kistler said. “We were able to play a good game.”

WC coach Greg Head liked how his team responded when pressed by the Lady Indians.

“What I’m more happy with is that we played so much better today,” Head said. “Our serve reception was a whole lot better. We got better touches on the ball and overall we improved so much over the last time we played them. We’re a lot better team now. We worked the ball well today.”

Warren Central (4-4) used a strong service game to take the first set 25-16. Jazmine Carter had 10 service points, while freshman Sherrell Kelly and junior Sharenna Smith had a pair of aces. Kistler, Kelly and Taylor Willis each had a kill.

Yazoo City played much better in the second set, forcing reception errors off the power from server Johnsee Clark. She had three aces, forced six WC errors and also got a kill from Dertranna Trinum to turn an 18-13 deficit into a 21-19 lead. A kill by WC freshman Erin Ingram stopped the rally.

Kistler came up with a pair of service aces to go with a kill from Smith to make it 24-23, WC. Kelly served out the set for a 25-23 win.

In the second set for WC, Kelly had five points, including two aces. Carter had three service points, Ingram had two kills and a dig, and Kistler had two kills.

Head played some reserves in the third set and Yazoo broke out to a 5-2 lead. They were up 17-13 when the Lady Vikes got two service points from Kelly, a block from Willis and a dig point from Hannah Gore to tie the set at 20. Kills by Willis and Smith put WC within match point and Willis ended it with an ace at 25-22.

In the third set, Willis had three aces, two kills and a block. Kistler had two kills and a block, while Barbara Caligurio had two service points and Carter had one.