By Shannon Fagan, WEIS Sports Director
CENTRE – It’s hard to imagine a high school volleyball team any hotter than the Cherokee County Lady Warriors right now.
Heading into Monday evening’s tri-match with Class 4A, Area 12 rival Hokes Bluff and Douglas, the Lady Warriors had lost just two sets in nine matches. They were coming off winning the Smith Lake Classic in Jasper, where they went 7-0 against quality competition.
There wasn’t any sort of letdown in Monday’s matches either.
The Lady Warriors swept Hokes Bluff 25-14, 25-11, 25-14. After Hokes Bluff outlasted Douglas 26-24, 26-28, 15-12, Cherokee County kept the scrappy Lady Eagles at arm’s length by winning 25-7 and 25-12 to improve to 11-0.
“The biggest improvement I saw (over the weekend in Jasper) was in mental toughness,” Cherokee County head coach Tiffany Rieger said. “The last couple of years, when we’ve given up several points in a row, we got way down. On Saturday, when we gave up two or three in a row, I didn’t have to call a timeout. There was more determination.”
That mental toughness and determination continued on Monday.
“Eleven and 0 is not bad,” Rieger said. “Hopefully these girls are gaining confidence as we go. I know when we pulled out Saturday night (from Jasper), their confidence was very high. I’ve believed in them for the last two or three years, and this year I feel like they believe in themselves. They don’t have any doubt that they can get where they want to go as long as we’re all on the same page and pushing for the same goal. Right now we are. It’s working really well.”
Against Hokes Bluff, Macy Lea managed 32 assists, four digs, and a kill. Nevaeh Gaidurgis delivered 16 kills, two digs, and a block. Ava Haygood had nine kills, two digs, an ace, and a block.
Mattie Green added four kills. Raegan Garmany contributed three kills and two blocks. Ellisan Givens posted six digs, three aces, and an assist. Jolie Alexander added three kills, four aces, and two digs. Jesslyn Hincy finished with five digs and an ace.
In the win over Douglas, Lea came away with 18 assists, a kill, and a dig. Gaidurgis accumulated seven kills, four digs, and two aces. Haygood collected four kills, four digs, four aces, a block, and an assist.
Green had four kills and three digs. Alexander earned three kills, a dig, a block, an ace and an assist. Givens gained eight digs, a kill, two aces and an assist. Hincy had three digs and two aces, and Garmany finished with a pair of kills.
Cherokee County travels to Westbrook Christian for a tri-match with Donoho on Tuesday.
