Glenvar – Over the past decade the Carroll County – Glenvar rivalry just hasn’t been there because in most sports one of the teams has simply dominated the other with Volleyball being the exception. The battle Thursday night was an Instant Classic as the Lady Cavaliers stole a road victory by the slimmest of margins in front of an energetic crowd.

Carroll County (4-3, 2-0 Three Rivers District) captured the night 3-2 (27-29, 19-25, 25-17, 25-18, 15-12) after the teams exchanged big hits across two plus hours.

Carroll County trailed in the opening set 12-6 before running off six straight points to pull even and from there it was as back and forth as it could get. Ali Wright (19 Kills) led the charge from the getgo and the team was in position to claim the opening set at 24-23 when Aza Petty wound up and unleashed a rocket shot for the win or atleast it appeared that way.

Glenvar was able to get to the ball for a second but then it was off to the rafters on the back end of the gym. The ball managed to bounce around up there for what felt like minutes before finally dropping back into play, allowing the home team to tie the score at 24 all. Glenvar would need extra time to capture the opener, 29-27 after CCHS was an unfortunate bad break from being the team leading 1-0.

Carroll County did their best to shake off the tough break during the second set and with a four point run pulled even at 18 but fell into an 0-2 hole after Glenvar closed out the set on a 7-1 run. On the brink of elimination, and ninety minutes from home, nobody could have blamed the team for mailing in the close out set.

CCHS opened up the third set on a 6-0 run and from there they refused to allow Glenvar back into it. Callie Harris (45) continued to pile up Diggs and Laiken Burnett looked like she had been playing the game all her life, finishing the night with 40 plus assists. Petty and Wright took turns pounding the Burnett sets while Raylee Goins was throwing her body to the floor repeatedly in hopes of saving any point. Wright’s laser kill made the score 22-15 and then Brooke Webb added one before Petty sealed the deal at 25-17. Skunk avoided but CCHS was still facing a big climb upward to have a chance to win the match.

The Highlanders led 6-5 in the fourth when the Lady Cavaliers kicked in into overdrive. Wright tied it up with a Kill, sending Harris to the service line and by the time the Junior was finished it was a 13-2. Harris had four Aces during the deciding stretch and the Cavs coasted to a 25-18 victory.

Tied at 2-2, it felt inevitable that Carroll County was on the cusp of a tremendous victory. When a match goes to a fifth set its a race to 15 and its all about who has the momentum.

After playing almost flawlessly for two sets, CCHS made five straight errors and found themselves on the wrong end of a 7-2 score. The night was slipping away quickly but Petty stepped up and led the team because that was Seniors do.

Sophomore Maddie Hyatt pulled the team even at 10-10, finishing up the second climb out of a big hole experience. Trailing 12-11, CCHS strung together the final four points of the night. A bomb 💣 from Wright and an Ace from Harris made it all over but the shouting and trust me, there was plenty of shouting after the final point went up on the scoreboard in the 15-12 closeout.

[ If this was just a Blog Post 📫 I would have a fun thought or two here about what Coach said afterwards but its for the newspaper 📰 so…]

” Again we talk about how hard they play and never give up and that couldn’t be more true than tonight, ” said Head Coach Cindy Edwards. “Being down two sets to none on the road was something else, I couldn’t be more proud of their efforts tonight.”

Carroll County returns to The Hill Tuesday night to host James River while the Junior Varsity gets their turn to head down to Patrick Henry – Glade Springs for a Saturday stuffed full of Volleyball matches ahead of the James River match.

The Junior Varsity team struggled with a hard hitting, jump service player on the Glenvar squad. The Lady Cavaliers fell 2-0 by scores of 25-4 and 25-8. Both sets had a stretch where the team played well, including a 5-3 lead in the second set. Coach Jason Petty continues to work hard with his very young squad.

Photo 📷 Credit – Patti Goins

From here, this story goes to my Partner in Homer’s R US, Allen (Please call me Vern) Worrell. Allen will tweak it and later today you will see it online!

SOLD ALL 34 Seat 💺 Backs inside of 24 Hours !!!!!

Clearly we have acquired a few new readers in the past few days so I will do a quick reset before getting started. When I attend an event that I know will appear in our Carroll News I have to change my writing ✍ style dramatically or as I like to call it, write a Grown-up story.

This means less humor and more actual reporting. On these nights 🌙 I will write three stories and tonight it will be a Gamer for Allen Worrell, a feature story on Laiken Burnett and a Top Ten List in hopes of making some folks smile.

90 minutes from Home and standing in an 0-2 hole 🕳, our Lady 👩 Cavaliers stormed back to edge Glenvar 3-2. It felt insane in the Gym, even a long way from home on a School 🏫 Night. So before I write a story about the actual match, I will give you my Top Ten Reasons why we Won.

Drum Roll Please….

#10 – Karma , we had Karma on our side because Mama Petty passed out Lolly Pops and the Harris family provided a livestream feed for people that couldn’t attend.

#9 – The combination of parents and JV players on our side of the Gymnasium stayed connected to the match from start to finish. This balanced the noise and energy out!

#8 – My favorite Bus 🚌 Driver is an Excellent Driver (Rainman reference). Marc Motley brought his MoJo in addition to the smooth ride.

#7 – Carroll County collected an unofficial 1,073 Floor Burns 🔥 on the night. Every time a ball was headed to the floor one of the Ladies was diving for it.

#6 – Aza Petty and Callie Harris are simply Ballers and team leaders.

#5 – Raylee Goins is way tougher then she appears to be and then some !

#4 – Brooke Webb is getting healthier by the day and is looking more comfortable each day.

#3 – Ali Wright = Beast Mode all five sets.

#2 – Cindy Edwards got a strong effort from Volunteer Assistant Coach by promising him an Ice Cream cone if the team won 🏆

#1 reason – Coach Edwards is still miffed that I talked her into plopping Dakota Walls racing helmet ⛑️ on her head and is simply trying hard to get to 500 wins as fast as she can !