Gary Bloyd expected some rust to show for his Warren East volleyball team Monday.

Sure enough, the fourth-seeded Lady Raiders exhibited a few of those expected rough patches coming off fall break against No. 5 seed Warren Central in the District 14 tournament opening round at Bowling Green High School.

Warren East (22-14) still had little trouble beating the Lady Dragons for the third time this season, winning 3-0 (25-11, 25-10, 25-10) to advance to Tuesday’s semifinal round against top-seeded Greenwood.

Bloyd hopes his team sanded out all the blemishes against Warren Central because he knows the Lady Gators are bound to expose each and every flaw in an elimination match.

“You could tell we were rusty,” Bloyd said. “Tomorrow it’s go for broke. I just want them to come in and get some swings in, get the rust knocked off and see what happens.”

The Lady Raiders had their service game working in the first set, recording 10 aces – including a service run by Olivia Price that included four straight aces – to earn a 25-11 win.

Warren Central (2-17) began to show its improvement under first-year coach Timothy Arnold late in that first set, especially in the service game.

Lady Dragons junior Tyanna Boards produced a four-point service run that included back-to-back aces to help her team briefly rally to within 24-11 before the Lady Raiders closed out the win.

Warren East flashed hitting power in the second set. Lady Raiders junior Jordan Fulkerson did much of the heavy lifting with five kills and a block in a 25-10 win.

Warren East closed out Monday’s match with a 25-10 win in the third set and now can turn its focus on Greenwood.

Fulkerson and middle hitter Price are keys to the Lady Raiders’ plans to blunt Greenwood’s hard-hitting front line.

“Me and Olivia, we are pretty good blockers I would say,” Fulkerson said. “We joke about it, say we’re building the wall. We’re just trying to get a good block and get up there.”

The wall is just what Bloyd wants his team to throw up Tuesday.

“Build the wall and slow their hitters down because if we can slow their hitters down that gives our girls a chance in the back row,” Bloyd said. “We’ve got to slow them down, slow that fast offense down.”

The loss ended the Lady Dragons’ season, and now the real work can begin according to Arnold.

“I can’t be more happy,” Arnold said. “The improvement that they showed, the attitude of the girls – I mean, we’re young, we’ve got a lot of pieces coming back.

“The biggest thing I told them is the offseason begins today. So for next year if you want a different result, it’s travel teams, getting in the weight room – we didn’t get a chance to have an offseason.”