Floyd County Junior Varsity Volleyball team dropped the opening set before storming back to edge Carroll County 2-1 (20-25, 26-24, 15-9) Tuesday night at Floyd High School.
Nikki Heflin now has three matches remaining in her rookie season as Junior Varsity Head Coach. Heflin moved up from the top spot of the Middle School 🏫 program during the off-season after Jason Petty retired.
The extra responsibility of coaching your own child adds to your thought process. Last night, after the match ended, I asked Hayden if she knew that she had a “pretty cool Mother ? She smiled and said Yes ! This in turn, made me smile.
Shelia Harris has been with Coach Heflin every step of the way this season which has been a Blessing for our new Coach.
About the Match :
Carroll County raced out to a 12-3 lead behind two Aces from Aubrey Hanshaw and kills from Paige Ogle. The Buffaloes continued to claw their way back into the set, eventually pulling within two at 22-20. Coach used her final timeout to settle her team down and the Lady Cavaliers finished the set with the final three points as Aaliyah Hampton scored a kill and Ogle closed out the 25-20 victory with a service winner.
The second set was much more back and forth. Carroll County trailed 14-11 until their longest run 🏃♂️ of the night netted seven straight points. Hampton led the charge from the service line with three efforts that were not returned, Heflin added a Kill plus Morgan Osborne teamed up with Annabelle Short for another one.
Carroll County still lead 22-19 when Floyd County used its final timeout. Two highlights down the stretch was a kill from Hampton with her back to the net and Ogle tied it up at 24 with a strong finish. Unfortunately, Floyd County finished the set with the final two points, tying the match with a 26-24 victory.
In the winner take all race 🏁 to 15 points Floyd County scored the first six and things looked hopeless for the Lady Cavaliers. Willow Barham landed a kill to end a 5-0 run to cut ✂️ the deficit to 6-5 but that was as close as Carroll County would get in the 15-9 final set.
I will add a couple of quick notes 📝 before writing ✍ the Varsity story.
First – it was neat to see 👀 Isaiah Easter and his Mother at the away match last night ! Our Varsity Quarterback will be back at Floyd County High School with Head Coach Seth Greer and the 🏈🏈🏈 team on Friday night. Mom played Volleyball 🏐 for Carroll County back in the day and yes, Vickie Easter was coached by Cindy Edwards.
Second – Thank You to Marion Harris for adding a stop ✋ to his drive over to Floyd as he took care of a loose end for us. Greatly appreciate 🙏 the assistance !
Third – why go into such detail for a Junior Varsity Volleyball match ? Easy answer, the Coaches, the Players and the Parents. It matters to me because it matters to them !
Fourth – the next story will cover the Varsity match and it will be what I call a grown-up write ✍ so that our friend David Broyles can continue to hold down the Fort until the folks in charge of The Carroll News can fill the giant shoes 👞 of Allen Worrell.
Fifth – Thank You Mama Smoot for the Pics from the match !
Six and Final – Thank You for caring ❤ enough to read the story ! This group is our future…..
A.S.P.N on The Hill 