Staff Reports
CENTRE – The Cherokee County Lady Warriors are prepared for postseason play. And not just because they won their Block Out Cancer Volleyball Tournament on Saturday.
They were missing head coach Tiffany Rieger, who was under the weather on Saturday morning, but assistant coaches Dusty Cothran, Magen Ponder and Jessica Hincy helped pull them through the day undefeated.
The Lady Warriors began the day with a 25-11, 25-13 win over Brindlee Mountain. Then, they defeated White Plains 25-16, 25-22.
The Lady Warriors were taken the distance against Westbrook Christian after losing the first set 15-25, but they won the next two 25-21 and 15-9 to advance and face Jacksonville. They defeated the Lady Golden Eagles 25-21 and 25-15 to set up the gold bracket championship match against county rival Sand Rock.
The Lady Warriors were once again taken to the limit, but came away victorious with a 26-24, 24-26, 15-9 win to improve to 30-16 on the season.
“It was a great day for us,” Cothran said. “It obviously started with an unforeseen situation with Coach Rieger being sick and unable to attend. She feared getting players sick with the area tournament coming up Wednesday, so she reluctantly had to sit it out.
“The great performance speaks volumes about how well she has prepared the team, but it also demonstrates our team’s ability to overcome adversity. From a tactical standpoint, we didn’t do anything differently. Overall, I felt like our ball control was very good. We had some issues (getting in the net) and a few small stretches where we gave up a few runs that hurt us, but I feel like we bounced back well from those stretches.”
Cothran felt like the serving and net play of Nevaeh Gaidurgis, Libby Curry and Ava Haygood were “huge for us.” He also said Lilly Shaw had some good moments at middle blocker, and noted Emilee Paul and Ellisan Givens were “huge on back row.” He said setter Macy Lea “continued to do what she does daily.”
“It was a lot of fun, and we’re grateful to everyone who helped run the tournament and those who support the program,” Cothran said. “We look forward to having Coach Rieger back on Wednesday for the area finals.”
For the day, Lea accumulated 129 assists, 24 digs, six kills, five blocks and four aces. Gaidurgis accounted for 65 kills, 28 digs, five aces, two assists and a block. Haygood delivered 33 kills, 22 digs, seven aces, three assists and a block. Curry contributed 22 kills, 15 digs and four aces. Givens posted 58 digs, seven assists, two aces and a kill. Paul came away with 23 digs, seven aces and three assists. Shaw added 12 kills, seven digs, five blocks and two assists.
Vivian Connell collected seven digs, two kills and an assist. Jolie Alexander had three kills, two digs and a block. Leila Connell finished with with a dig and an assist.
Cherokee County will play the winner of the Ashville-Etowah match at 5 p.m. on Wednesday in the Class 4A, Area 11 tournament.