James River High School came to town with a record of 5-3, (1-1 Three Rivers District) with one glaring statistic in that the Knights had yet to play a fourth set. Each match ended either 3-0 or 0-3.

Carroll County (4-4, 2-1) was able to break that unique streak but fell just short in rallying its way out of an 0-2 hole for the second straight match. James River held on for a 3-1 ( 26-24, 25-19, 27-29, 25-23) victory that was every bit as close as it sounds..

Two teams that are as evenly matched as can be, slugged it out and the final advantage went the way of the visitors, 103-95.

While coming up just short on the scoreboard, veteran Coach Cindy Edwards was pleased with the effort she received from her squad.

” Again I thought we play extremely hard fought back time after time” Edwards said . “And was right there against a very sold team from start to finish.”

Individually the Lady Cavaliers finished the night with a trio of players that broke the 20 barrier for the match. Senior Aza Petty finished with 20 Diggs in addition to 18 kills and four Aces while Junior Laiken Burnett tallied 26 Assists to accompany her 18 Diggs and 4 Aces. Fellow Junior Callie Harris recorded 28 Diggs and 3 Aces.

In the opening set it was a battle of runs after JRHS led 12-9. CCHS sandwiched two runs around a three point Knights run to leave the teams knotted at 16. Trailing 22-19, Petty did her best to will the Cavs with back to back kills and the team finally pulled back even at 24-24. JR took the opening set in Extras by scoring back to back points to close it out, 26-24.

The second set followed suit as CCHS led 10-8 before the visitors strung together eight straight on the strength of Libero Leanna Steger’s serving game. Now down 16-10, Carroll County answered with five unanswered as Petty scored two of her Kills and Burnett two of her Aces.

Sadly, CCHS ran out of time after the Knights scored six straight to push it out to 22-15. Ali Wright saved one set point with possibly her biggest swing of the evening but the set ended at 25-19.

Carroll County is not afraid to try and play out of a 0-2 hole, especially after defeating Glenvar on the road last week. This time the hole became deeper after JRHS opened with a 6-0 spurt. The Lady Cavaliers didn’t take their first lead until 13-12, finishing the charge with Brooke Webb Ace and Petty Kill.

The point of the night came at 16-16 when Petty went Patrick Mahomes on the Knights by finishing the point with a Kill that she finished up with her back to the net. The mojo was back with the Cavs and it lead to six straight points, pushing the home team to a 22-17 lead.

Once again the Knights battled back and was serving for the match at 27-26. A service error tied it up and CCHS closed it out with a Burnett Ace and Petty Kill for the 29-27 victory.

The fourth and final set was a mirror image of the first three and it was 16-16 after Petty scored three straight with a Dink, an Ace and a service winner. From there the teams exchanged points until 22 All with the highlight being Burnett with her own over the shoulder winner 🏆 on a sneaky 2nd ball.

Harris followed with a 2 ball winner ahead of a Wright Kill to give CCHS a 23-22 lead. The following point was the longest of the match and eventually went to the Knights as did the last two to close out the night, 25-23.

Carroll County, Alleghany and James River each stand at 1-1 against the group in what promises to be an exciting District race.

The Lady Cavaliers return to action 🎬 Thursday night at Floyd County.

James River also captured the Junior Varsity match 2-0 but not before being pushed in the second set of the 25-13, 25-21 victory.

Brooke is pictured here with her Father Stan and Mother Denise.

Brooke is a 5’8 Junior and plays Volleyball 🏐 for Coach Edwards and Softball for Coach Rick Nester.

Brooke was born in the Hospital 🏥 in Radford but has been in Hillsville her entire life.

Brooke is the daughter of Denise Webb and Stan & April Webb.

History with the game of Volleyball began back in the 6th grade and she started playing on a team in the seventh grade.

Mom shares that she started playing Softball as a 5-year old but retired shortly after due to being Hit by a Pitch one too many times. Didn’t start back until the 8th grade.

We invited Brooke to share a couple of thoughts about herself, through her parents. Also invited both Parents to share a thought as well as both Coach Edwards and Coach Neely.

Here are those responses :

Coach Neely :

Brooke is fantastic. She has really grown as a player the past couple of years. Part of that is due to Kimmie and Travis helping to increase her volleyball iq with club, but mostly because she just wants to be better. When she was told we needed her in the middle this year, at first she was a little hesitant, but she has jumped right in and works hard to make herself the best middle that she can be.

Her and Laiken have worked on running different plays – flairs, 3s, 1s, tights – and we are seeing their setter/hitter connection continue to grow.

She worked hard over the summer to better her passing and defense, and we are seeing her be more confident in herself in those areas.

At times she does get down on herself, as do so many others, but she has gotten better about not staying down on herself.

She is one of the loudest and most positive voices when she is on the bench and I truly
believe that she wants the team to have fun and be successful.

Not only is Brooke a good player, but she is a stellar student. She is so very intelligent and I will not be surprised if she ends up in the top 10 in her graduating class. I have been blessed to be able to work with student-athletes who want to be better and to better the program and Brooke is another to add to that list.

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Coach Edwards :

Booked has improved so much she has worked so hard to be on the court and I couldn’t be more proud of her you can see her growing with everything from hitting to serving she is also a softball kid who has put in alot of work and effort into that sport also. While being a straight A student.

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Brooke with two thoughts –

I like travel volleyball seasons because I get the travel and hangout with my friends from other schools.

I love that Christmas 🎄 starts in September for me. I enjoy going to look at Christmas lights, decorating my house, and listening to Christmas music.

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Mom 👩 :

Brooke is wise beyond her years and is currently taking dual enrollment classes and has a relationship with Christ.

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Dad 👨 :

Brooke is as self motivated as a child can be. I have never had to wake ⏰ her up once in her life. She is that way in regards to both School 🏫 and Athletics.

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Brooke Morgan Webb wears #16 on our Volleyball 🏐 team and now you know just a little bit about this impressive young Lady 👩.

Head Coach Jason Petty and Assistant Coach Nikki Heflin led their team into action 🎬 versus James River High School 🏫. While their team fell short to the visiting Knights, the youngsters continued to grow.

The final score for the match was 2-0 in favor of James River (25-13, 25-21) and now we will take a look inside the numbers.

In the opening set… CCHS fell victim to one big run 🏃‍♂️ of 8-0 that turned the score from 10-6 to 18-6. The Lady 👩 Cavaliers settled down to finish up the set at 7-7 but the damage was done during that one run.

Coach Petty tried his best to slow 🐌 the roll by calling one of his Timeouts during the pivotal stretch but swing the momentum back in time to save the set.

In the second set Carroll County took a 7-6 lead before a 9-0 run put them in a deep 15-7 hole 🕳. The first answer by CCHS came after falling behind 21-12, as the Lady 👩 Cavaliers strung together their own 9-2 run and just like that CCHS was within 23-21.

James River closed out the match by scoring the final two points for the 25-21 victory. 14-10 advantage for CCHS down the stretch after being down big in an elimination game is a good sign.

JV returns to action 🎬 Thursday night at Floyd County High School 🏫.