Carroll County Volleyball falls short in season finale at Radford but still has two more opportunities in the post season.

Photo 📷 Credit : Patti Goins

RADFORD – Carroll County entered the Bobcats Gymnasium Thursday night with a chance to pull into a third place tie with their host but will settle for the #4 spot in the Three Rivers District Tournament after falling 3-0( 25-21, 25-19, 25-16).

Carroll County (12-9, 7-5 TRD) will now set their sites on another trip to the Highlands on Monday night to face #1 seed Alleghany High School.

The two teams split their regular season matches with the Home team winning each time. Carroll County defeated AHS in the Three Rivers District opener for the teams and it proved to be a wake up call for the Cougars (20-3, 11-1) as the top seed rolled through league play with nine of the 11 being by 3-0 sweeps.

In the rematch against Radford (9-3, TRD), the Lady Cavaliers found themselves leading 17-14 in the opening set after a 5-0 run capped by a service Ace from Freshman Raylee Goins. But the Bobcats realized that if they lost the match they would be the ones heading to AHS on Monday.

The run 🏃‍♂️ would be 7-2 for the Bobcats and Head Coach Cindy Edwards called for a Time Out, trailing 21-19. The second timeout came at 23-20 but the Lady Cavaliers could not flip the script in the 25-21 setback.

The team returned to their normal rotation for the second set with Callie Harris returning to her Libero position after Faith Nicholson held down the spot in the opening set. The move was made due to Ali Wright missing the opening set due to an illness the previous day.

Wright hit the ground running in the second set by scoring the first two points and Harris made it 3-1 CCHS with an Ace. This time the Bobcats run was 11-2 with the two coming on Radford errors.

Trailing 12-5, Carroll County tried to claw their way back into the set and the match. The team cut the deficit to 20-16 on a Kill by Arizona Thompson but that was as close as they would get in the 25-19 final.

Carroll County finished the night with the ever so rare stat of having four players in double figures in the Digs column. Aza Petty and Harris both finished up with 15 while Nicholson collected 12 and Laiken Burnett 11.

Burnett finished with a double double as the Junior setter totalled 17 assists on the night.

Trailing 2-0 and on the road, Carroll County struggled mightily in the early stages of the closeout set. The deficit reached 13-4 until an Ace from Brooke Webb and a Kill from Petty showed signs of life. Down 13-7 and with a bit of momentum on their side, the Lady 👩 Cavaliers were outscored 10-1, making it 23-8.

The closing five minutes might prove to be as valuable as any throughout the season. Knowing that a really long Bus ride awaits them on Monday to face a team that hasn’t lost in almost two months, it was a bit of a gut check time for CCHS.

The Lady Cavaliers responded in a major way, producing an energetic 8-1 run 🏃‍♂️ to pull within 24-16. It was too late to give them hope of winning the match they were playing but it was a strong way to close out a tough night.

The point the Lady 👩 Cavaliers won to make it 24-16 was by far the longest one of the Match. The amount of Heart that was on display down the stretch was encouraging and something that can be built on between now and the departure time on Monday.

Carroll County will also be playing in the Regional tournament following the conclusion of the District Tourney. The 10 team field will begin play next Saturday with the #7 and #8 seeds hosting the #9 and #10 seeds.

Radford finished up in a tie for second place with James River but lost the tiebreaker and will travel up to Buchanan on Monday with the winners meeting in the Finals on Wednesday night.

[ JV story was self standing with it being their final match]