The second that Allen Worrell showed me this Action 🎬 shot from the Pulaski County match, I knew that we could have some fun with it.
Can you correctly name this Lady 👩 Cavalier ? Limited to 12 guesses…
Here in a bit it Head Coaches Cindy Edwards and Jason Petty will round up their teams, load up the Bus 🚌 and head out US-58 East.
Last night 🌙 was a fun time in our Gymnasium, even loved the fact that Mr. DeHaven opened up both sides of the building to make it feel even more legit!
But now its time to hit the road again and to make matters worse, the weather forecast is not our friend tonight.
Here are just a few reasons to consider making the Drive 🚗 over to cheer on our Lady 👩 Cavaliers. Will borrow from David Letterman by using a Top Ten List….
#10 – You can use the time to scout out local restaurants ahead of the Football 🏈 game on Thursday..
Pizza 🍕 Puffs are the Bomb 💣
#9 – You can stop ✋ at Lovers Leap and take a selfie.
#8 – You get to drive 🚗 through the beautiful hamlet of Laurel Fork. I might could give you a guided tour of the place.
#7 – Patrick County is the home of the Wood Brothers Nascar shop / Va Motorspoets museum.
#6 – You can say Thank You 🙏 to Assistant Coach Trenton Miller for rocking 😎 that Awesome Cowboy 🤠 Hat last night on Western Night 🌙.
#5 – You might could score a Lolly Pop from Mama Petty
#4 – You could witness the final time that Senior Aza Petty plays Volleyball 🏐 in Stuart.
#3 – You can rub elbows with Coach Edwards as she continues her chase of 500 Volleyball 🏐 victories.
#2 –
Drum Roll – The number one reason to jump in the Car 🚗 tonight is
These Young Ladies play hard and like all other High School Student Athletes, they enjoy playing in front of their Family 👪, Friends and Classmates.
Good News / Bad News in regards to our next battle with Mother Nature.
The Good News is that Softball Camp (46 campers ) is going to get started here at 3pm for Day 2 of 3.
The Bad News is the folks coming down from ROANOKE to finish setting up the seats 💺are going to reschedule due the threat of rain 🌧 tomorrow.
With just 12 days remaining before the Alumni Game it will now be a bit of a challenge for everything to get done by then. But we will keep a hoping and a 🙏🙏🙏.
Photo 📷 Credit – Patti Goins
The Hill – Carroll County High School returned to The Hill Monday night to host Pulaski County and the Lady 👩 Cavaliers swept the Lady Cougars 3-0 (25-11, 25-12, 25-20) in front of an energetic crowd.
The non-district victory moved Head Coach Cindy Edwards team to 6-5 and 3-1 in the Three Rivers District. The team will have a small window to celebrate though as they return to action tonight at Patrick County as they finish up a three match in four days stretch.
The combination of the busy stretch and having a few nicked up players led Coach Edwards to mix and match her lineup card from start to finish.
” I thought it was a great chance to play everyone tonight,” said Edwards. ” At the same time not play some that need to rest their injuries.”
Aza Petty led the way with another double- double as the Senior finished with 12 Kills and 12 Diggs. Junior Callie Harris flirted with joining Petty in the most difficult of ways, finishing up with 11 Diggs and a match high 8 Aces. The duo shared something more than stats against PCHS, they were listening to their long-time Coach offer encouragement to her younger players throughout the night. Something that they could appreciate from their early playing days.
One of those younger players is Freshman Raylee Goins. Goins reached double figures in Diggs with 11 and added four Kills and three Aces. Junior floor General Laiken Burnett also recorded a double-double with a match high 24 assists and 15 Diggs. Burnett was impressive with her setting in large part because she was tasked to pass to more teammates than normal.
Carroll County wasted little time in taking control of the opening set as Ali Wright scored a Kill and followed it with two Aces to push the lead out to 11-3. Pulaski County pulled within 14-9 but Harris followed a Burnett 2-ball Kill with three straight Aces to push the lead back to a comfortable place.
Goins sealed the deal in the opening set with two of her Aces and two more Kills from Wright, finishing up at 25-11. The Lady 👩 Cavaliers closed out on a 7-0 run.
Wright is on the list of dinged up players and she would see limited action 🎬 the rest of the match. This created extended playing time for fellow Sophomores Maddie Hyatt and Faith Nicholson.
Hyatt finished two early Kills in the second set and Nicholson added two Aces during the 11-3 opening run of the second set. Petty and Harris took over the next stretch with 3 Kills and 3 Aces respectively, pushing the lead out to 16-5.
Hyatt added two more Kills near the end of the 25-12 victory and then Coach Edwards began to raise the bar for some of her youngsters.
All season long the topic about this year’s team has been how young they were before losing Corrie Delp to an ankle injury. The total number of Varsity years for the squad was in single digits. Yes, Petty and Harris have been playing the game since they learned how to walk but a number of the players are still getting their Varsity feet wet.
Yes, the team is incredibly young and Edwards has been pushing buttons and pulling strings for almost four decades now. A second tag needs to be added to the one about being young and its that they are very, very coachable. So when Edwards started Coaching her younger players more noticeably last night, both Harris and Petty had to be thinking about their early days.
On to the third and what would be the final set, Carroll County pushed their Third Set winning streak out to five straight matches. After dropping the third set to both Marion and Alleghany, the team has not fallen short since.
Pulaski County did not leave the Gymnasium quietly though. Their Junior Varsity team became more engaged during the final set and the Cougars clearly fed off the energy.
PCHS led 7-3, then 9-4 and finally 10-8 before a barrage of Aces would eventually give the lead back to Carroll County. Burnett and Harris picked up two apiece during the decisive run.
The play of the match came at 23-20 Carroll County. Goins went well to her right for a point saving Digg and the ball 🚀 rocketed across the court to Petty, where she reached across her body to start the one armed Kill that set up Match Point. Carroll County closed out the night at 25-20.
Very Young and Very Coachable.
The Junior Varsity team battled their counterparts from start to finish Monday night. Pulaski County won the match 2-0 (25-23, 25-22) but the Lady Cavaliers were knocking at the door 🚪 both sets.
Both team return to action tonight over in Stuart versus Patrick County.
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Borrowing from the WNBA, where they close out game stories from time to time by showing A-List people who attended the game…
Football 🏈 – Mason Crockett was seated right behind Press Row and a number of his teammates were up in the Student section.
Basketball 🏀 – Senior Ethan Richardson was in the building and did a nice job holding the 🎤🎙🎤 and talking about their upcoming season.
Allen “Vern” Worrell of the Carroll News was taking photographs.
Tammy Quesenberry finished off another busy, busy day by taking in some Volleyball 🏐.
Kevin DeHaven is an A-Lister but does it count if you have to be there? Let’s give his nod to Mrs.D
Finally, there was this Lady 👩
I also want to acknowledge the Prayer circle 🔵 🙏 that both teams formed after the Match.
Ali Wright is just a Sophomore in school 🏫 years but she has been a part of Head Coach Cindy Edwards Volleyball program for 6 years now.
Tonight we will take you inside the World 🌎 of our 5’6 Sophomore, through the eyes 👀 of her Mother 👩 Stephanie, Coach Edwards, Coach Meliah Neely and Ali herself.
Allison Victoria Wright
Sophomore – 5’6
Daughter of Stephanie Ellison and Justin Wright..
First up – Head Coach Cindy Edwards
” Ali works nonstop with volleyball, she is growing with her consistency of put the ball in the court when she hits but again she is only a 10th grader. What a great kid she is always fun to be around.
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Assistant Coach Maleah Neely :
“Ali is the embodiment of joy. She radiates positivity (most of the time when she is not in her head). Al is one of the loudest voices when someone else is successful and you will often hear her giggles echo through the gym when she does something silly. As the opposite of Aza, Ali is the silly/positive where Aza brings the focus/leadership.
Ali worked hard in the off season to better herself by playing outdoor and she has shown herself not only as an opposing teams nightmare on the front row, but also as a steady defender.
When mistakes are made, Ali is generally able to brush them off and she moves right along – we call her Dory at times because she has such a short term memory. Don’t let her short term memory fool you though – she is very smart and a fantastic student. Back on the court, her serve has come along as well and when it is in, it is tough to serve receive.
She is continuing to work through a nagging knee injury, but she never complains and continues to work.
She is truly an asset, not just because of her big arm, but because of the joy she brings to the court. Ali is one of the first to greet me when I get to practice and I look forward to getting to receive some of the “Ali joy” because it really can turn a bad day around. Like Cece Winans says in her song, “I’ve got Jesus, so I’ve got joy”, and that is ol Ali girl.
To know Ali is to know overwhelming joy that comes from the one and only Jesus.
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Next up, Proud Mother 👩 Stephanie:
Ali started playing volleyball when she was in the 5th grade, under the guidance of Coach Cindy Edwards.
“She’s everything. Ali is the true definition of strength, determination and ambition. Ali is filled with the spirit of God and leads her life with compassion, humility and grace. She’s also one of the funniest humans I’ve ever known and brings light and joy to my life every single day. Volleyball has been a positive therapeutic outlet for Ali and I’m so thankful for our volleyball community, coaches and leaders”.
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Ali shares her own thoughts on being part of the Lady 👩 Cavaliers Volleyball 🏐 program :
I play for God. I know that everything that happens in my life is for a reason. My favorite time of the year is Rampage travel ball season, because I get to meet so many different people.
My favorite Bible verse is 2 Timothy 4:7.
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”
Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you our #20, Ali Wright !
