Photo Credit : Patti Goins
Buchanan – Carroll County Volleyball (10-8, 5-4) suffered a double setback on Thursday night. On the court the Lady 👩 Cavaliers fell 3-0 (25-14, 25-17, 25-14) to James River High School and off the court it was announced that the Non-District match at Marion will not be rescheduled.
The match at Marion High School was postponed due to the town being hit hard by the Hurricane 🌀 and while it doesn’t effect the Three Rivers District standings, it does shorten the playing career of Senior Aza Petty by one match.
Petty played Thursday night 🌙 as if she realized that her lengthy story of Volleyball and Surgeries would be ending soon. On an evening where Carroll County seemed just a bit out of sorts, Petty did her best to will her team to victory.
To properly set the stage for the match one has to begin that Carroll County started the night without its normal dedicated cheering section in place. While the team Bus 🚌 was fortunate enough to jump off the Interstate and then back on later, the parents (and Writer, made it in 30 seconds ahead of start of JV) weren’t as fortunate.
It’s a small group of dedicated parents who travel to the road games but what they lack in numbers, they make up for with energy. Hard to tell just how much it factored into the outcome but it certainly didn’t help.
Petty opened the match up with a service Ace and then a point later, Carroll County led 2-1. That is significant to the story because the Lady 👩 Cavaliers would not hold the lead again until an Ali Wright Kill made it 1-0 in the third set. Raylee Goins added a Kill to push the lead to 3-1 but James River netted the next nine points for a 10-3 lead.
JRHS is the team in the District that mirrors Carroll County. Their success comes from playing as a unit, avoiding unforced errors and serving well. The Knights did all three of those things across all three sets.
In the opening set CCHS pulled within 8-7 on a Kill from Callie Harris but the home team scored nine of the next 10 points. Petty sprinkled in a trio of Kills down the stretch, including the final two points in the 25-14 setback.
The second set opened with an 8-1 run by the Knights. Carroll County strung together four straight points as Wright and Brooke Webb both scored a Kill. Sadly, James River answered the mini-run with a 6-1 stretch to make it 14-6. The Lady Cavaliers pulled within 19-14 and were showing signs of life before JRHS closed out the set by outscoring their guests 6-3.
The third set offered hope when Petty’s Kill pulled the team within 13-11. Both Goins and Harris had Aces during the run and flashbacks to the road match at Glenvar came to mind. CCHS fell behind 2-0 that night before storming back to defeat the Highlanders 3-2.
The biggest run 🏃♂️ of the night (10-0) erased any doubt as to the outcome. Five service Aces from the Knights during the stretch proved to be the definition of the night.
” It wasn’t that James River was hitting the ball that hard,” offered Assistant Coach Trenton Miller. ” They just did a great job of hitting it to where the open spot on the floor was.”
Petty added one final Kill and Laiken Burnett served consecutive Aces to make it 23-14 before the Knights ended the night at 25-14.
Carroll County returns home next Tuesday Night for Senior Night. Home matches with Floyd County and Patrick County plus a road contest at Radford remain for Head Coach Cindy Edwards ahead of the post season.
Carroll County Junior Varsity dropped a 2-0 (25-18, 25-15) decision to the Knights. Leigha Harrad opened the match with an Ace and the team led 6-4 in the opening set. CCHS pulled within 15-12 when Addilynn Stanley landed an Ace.
Aaliyah Hampton landed quite possibly her loudest Kill of the season in the second set to bring the Lady Cavaliers to within 18-14 before the Knights finished off the set and the match.
