Month: November 2022

When it comes to Backyard Basketball 🏀 then might be as close as it gets : Washington and Lee at Southern Virginia University

Not sure how many times that two College Hoops teams could get together with less travel than Duke vs North Carolina but it happened today in scenic Buena Vista as the SVU Knights hosted the W & L Generals.

Just under seven miles between the schools which by comparison to W & L to VMI seems 🤔 like a long way. The action started at 2pm and the pace was energetic from the opening tap.

While nobody will mistake the action for Virginia vs Virginia Tech you would be hard pressed to convince any of the fans that made their way into Knight Arena that they were watching 👀 anything other than the Game of the Day!

The Old Dominion is my home and I’m always searching for sporting events that fly under the radar as I’ve made it my mission to shine a light on them whenever I can.

Washington and Lee jumped out to an early lead at 25-12 and appeared well on their way to rolling to a comfortable victory. The Knights answered with a min run of their own to trim the lead to single digits before the Generals connected on a pair of 3-pointers to take a 45-29 advantage to the locker room.

One of the highlights in the first half was the unified reaction from the SVU bench anytime one of their mates made a positive play on the court.

W & L entered the day at 3-1 with the lone setback being a 1 point heartbreaker at the hands of Christopher Newport University. The Generals compete in the DIII Old Dominion Athletic Conference.

USA South Atlantic League is the DIII home for the Knights. Play has resumed and the action has quickly returned to the up and down pace from the initial 20 minutes.

W&L 61, SVU 40 with 11+ minutes to play.

The line on top of the scoreboard reads – Welcome to the Barn which is incredibly fitting as the Knights home is a Big Red Barn that sits in the middle of the Campus.

6:46 remains – Generals 71-46

Break in the action (3:55) Generals leading 74-48

The Knights score back 2 back baskets to trim the lead back to 22 before W & L hits another 3-pointer to protect the 20 point barrier, for now.

Knights cut ✂️ it to 20 with a 3-ball of their own as they fight until the end.

Happy Thanksgiving !

The End of the Volleyball 🏐 Trail brings us to a Sunny Saturday in Salem

The journey began months ago in the gymnasium at Patrick Henry – Glade Springs High School. I made the trip down I-81 to watch our Carroll County High School Cavaliers play a VB match against the host team.

All it took was one look to immediately appreciate just how special the Cavaliers program was at each level – the Coaching, the Players and the group I labeled the Road Warriors. The parents and grandparents of the team were nothing short of magnificent.

We were able to be in the Gyms with them every step of the way from that first night 🌙 until the season ending match in Dry Fork. It’s worth noting that the Max Preps rating system still has CCHS ranked #4 in the state as of this morning.

Just how good is the Volleyball 🏐 in our part of the Old Dominion ? Today there will be 3 State Championship games played in Salem and we drove past the 3 schools that we will call the Home teams.

Hidden Valley is the Region Champion from our region and they play in Game #1 vs York (Yorktown).

GAME #1 – First TO, HV 11-9

Falcons call 2nd TO, Titans 18-13

Hidden Valley clearly scored more points via Dinks than they did Kills in winning the opener, 25-17

GAME #2

York TO, HV leads 10-5

Miles driven to the match – 249 vs 6

16-9 HV before Falcons score 6 straight to force a TO

18-18 before HV gets 3 straight and York calls last TO

TO – HV after 24-20 lead became 24-23

Hidden Valley 25-23, Titans one win away now.

GAME #3……

York pulls out to a sizeable lead but Titans pull even at 11. TO – York

York 19-16, 19-17, 19-18, 19 ALL

York – Final TO

York 21-20, TO HV

York 22-20

York 23-20, Titans final TO

Titans fend off two set points but York says Not Yet

GAME #4

HV 18, York 12 – TO York

3 straight for York, now 4 straight

TO HV – HV 18-16

York 23-22, HV final TO

We are heading to Game 5 !

GAME #5

York 5-1, TO HV

8-2 York, 8-3, 8-4, 9-4, 9-5, 9-6, 9-7 on back to back Dinks.

Point of the match finally ends, now 9-8

TO York

10-8 on a ball out by maybe half an inch.

11-8 York, TO Hidden Valley

12-8 as a block goes wide

12-9 after the crowd believes a missed call

12-10 on a service Ace

Final TO

13-10, 13-11, 14-11

2:05 pm – York 15, Hidden Valley 11

Falcons come from down 2-0 to capture the Championship.

Glenvar represents our District and Hidden Valley our Region but Auburn is simply our little neighbors.

Just North of Floyd in the village of Riner, the Eagles also had a short trek to the Civic Center.

2:47 – GAME #1 of Eagles vs Raiders

Auburn 9-4, TO Rapp

236-33 in miles driven by the two teams today.

TO – Rapp, down 22-13

Auburn makes Game #1 look easy. (3:06pm)

GAME #2

Rapp 13-10, they have already matched their Game One total

TO – Auburn, trailing 16-13

TO – Auburn, trailing 22-15

Rapp evens it up 1 set all.

GAME #3

Auburn 8-2, TO Rapp

Auburn 12-4

20-14 Auburn, TO Rapp

20-16

Rapp makes it close but Auburn hangs on for a 2-1 lead.

GAME #4 –

Auburn 11-6, Rapp TO

14-6 Auburn

16-7, Rapp calls 2nd and final TO

19-14 Auburn, Eagles take their first TO after 7-3 run by Raiders.

Rapp pulls within 22-19 and 23-20

Auburn closes out the set and the match, 25-20

5:02 pm – GAME #1 begins

Glenvar 22-17, Highlanders playing well but can’t pull away.

5:21 – Game 1 to the Highlanders!

GAME #2 –

Glenvar 10-5 , East Rock TO

Glenvar 19-8, East Rock 2nd TO

Highlanders 25-11 in second game, one step away from Back 2 Back titles.

GAME #3

East Rock 9, Glenvar 5, Glenvar TO

12 All – ERHS timeout

Glenvar 21-16, ERHS final TO (6:04)

Glenvar volleyball 🏐 rolls to a 2nd consecutive State Championship in 2A!!!