The Hill – Carroll County High School improved to 7-3 on the season Wednesday night, defeating Marion High School 3-2 ( 25-20, 23-25, 23-25, 25-15, 15-10) in a non-district match.

There will be a very quick turnaround as the Lady Cavaliers return to the home gym tonight to host Three Rivers District foe, Glenvar High School.

Carroll County swept the season series versus the Hurricanes but this time the victory came with Head Coach Cindy Edwards having to play without two of her starters. Both Corrie Delp and Ali Wright were resting up as they recover from recent injuries.

  This years team has plenty of depth but the question was who could step up to fill the void created by the free swinging Wright and the versatility of Delp ?

  The answer to the first question came in the form of Senior Brooke Webb. Webb played as well as she has in her time in the program, finishing point after point across the five sets. Volleyball is the definition of a team sport and fellow Senior, Laiken Burnett was also at the top of her game versus Marion.

Burnett just finished becoming the fifth Lady Cavalier to crack the 1 000 assist barrier and the lefty showed no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

Trailing 4-2 early in the opening set, Faith Nicholson served the Cavs to a 6-0 run to take the lead and the team never trailed again. Webb led the run with two kills while Arizona Thompson added one to accompany an Ace from Nicholson.

Marion pushed back to pull within 22-20 but Callie Harris served out the set, finishing the 25-20 victory in style with an Ace.

The Hurricanes 🌀 raced out to an 18-11 lead in the second set but Burnett headed to the service line and obviously liked being back there. The 10-0 run included MHS burning both timeouts and the longest run of the match had Carroll County on the verge of a 2-0 lead. Burnett had two service winners and Webb managed a Kill with her back to the net during the run.

Marion took control from there though, outscoring the Lady Cavaliers 7-2 to claim a 25-23 victory, tying the match at 1-1.

  The third set was the complete opposite of the second one, despite the fact that it ended with an identical score of Marion 25, Carroll County 23. The two teams traded Kills and long volleys but neither side scored more than three straight points along the way.

Having played five matches on Saturday and then five sets on Monday versus Lord Botetourt, it would have been understandable for the short handed Cavs to play out the night. But the trio of healthy Seniors simply put on a show in the fourth set.

Trailing 1-0 after a Marion Ace, Heidi Painter even the score with a kill. That point sent Burnett to the service line and Harris followed. By the time the dust settled, Carroll County was leading 13-2 and there was little doubt about the match would go to a fifth set.

Five service winners by Burnett sandwiched a Webb Kill. Harris finished off the set once again after a Raylee Goins Kill gave CCHS match point. 25-15 was in the books 📚 and it was on to the second straight winner take all fifth set.

When the game only goes to 15, getting off to a solid start is crucial. Carroll County once again rode the service arm of Burnett and the Kill machine of Webb to race out to an 7-2 lead. CCHS pushed the lead out to 10-3 with two more Webb kills and a sneaky first ball winner from Harris. Marion made one more run to close to within 11-9, setting the stage for a dramatic finish.

  Goins and Burnett teamed up for a picture perfect block to push the lead back to three at 12-9 and a final Harris kill took it to 13-9.

The final point of the set and match was a perfect example of how Carroll County won the match. Goins on the serve, Painter 🎨 and Burnett with the perfect team block to extend the point and Webb finishing the night off with a final kill in the 15-10 closeout set.

In the Junior Varsity match, Carroll County played a thrilling first set against the Hurricanes. CCHS jumped out to an 11-6 lead. Marion dominated the middle of the set, outscoring the home team 15-4 to take a 21-15 lead. Ashton Rodrigue headed to the service line and sparked a 7-0 run with three Aces wrapped around kills from Autumn Ashton and Hayden Heflin.

The two teams would exchange points deep into extras before Marion escaped with a 31-29 victory.

”  That was a great first set. I think the girls were wore out by the second set,” said Head Coach Niki Heflin “.  We’re getting better with every game!”

  Marion did ride the wave of two great service runs to close out the match with a 25-7 victory in the second set.

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Here are some 4:32 am notes 📝

Will work on getting a count on the number of Kills from Webb and other stats, once I think normal people are awake.

Remember that the Dad’s are invited to join their daughters on the Service line tonight during both matches.

My unofficial count has Miss Webb with 22 Kills.

From Assistant Coach, Kayla Nester :

Brook Webb had 20 kills
Callie Harris with 14 kills and 32 digs
Laiken Burnett with 35 assist and 19 digs.