Heading To Richmond

HOT SPRINGS – It’s history in the making.

The Bath County volleyball will be one in the Final Four of the Group A volleyball tournament in Richmond Friday as they knocked off the John Battle Trojans in four sets Tuesday night 21-25, 25-21, 25-16, 25-19.

“Unbelievable,” said senior hitter Hillary Jessee, who surpassed the 1,000 kill mark of her career in the night’s first game. “We’re going to Richmond.”

Senior twin towers Jessee and Carey Trimble continued to wreak havoc, combining for 50 kills, while sophomore setter Ashley Rice contributed a game-high 60 assists.

Jessee broke her own single-game school record in the win with 30 kills and now has 1,027 kills for her career heading to Richmond.

The Chargers – making their first state appearance in school history – were playing the Trojans for the first time and did not know what to expect. The only thing they knew about John Battle was senior Kelsey Griffitts – the VHSL Group A record holder for career kills with 1,237 following last night’s match.

“We knew that she was a left handed hitter,” said Bath County coach Dave McGee. “I’m left handed so the night before I tried to simulate what I thought she might bring to the table. Unfortunately she brought more than I could and was better than what we thought but we made some adjustments and neutralized her.”

John Battle rode the high-powered arm of Griffitts to a first set win to take the early momentum.

Two Griffitts’ kills staked the Trojans to an early 2-0 lead but Jessee’s 1,000th kill gave Bath a 7-6 lead later in the set. The set was knotted at seven, 10 and 11 before another Griffitts’ kill put the Trojans on top for good, 13-12.

The Trojans extended their lead to 18-15 and and Griffitts’ kill made it 20-16 late in the set. A Jessee kill brought BC to within one (22-21) but that would be as close as they would get as Battle’s Payton Frank served out the match to give the Trojans a one set lead.

Were the Chargers rattled after dropping the first set?

“Wasn’t even worried about it,” said senior libero Sara Philpott. “I knew we could do it. We had it set in our minds that we were going to win.

We’re together and we’re a team, I knew we could do it.”

“I wasn’t worried at all,” said Jessee. “We just had to make a few adjustments and then we played our game.”

Was coach worried?

“Not at all man,” said McGee. “We had never seen them before so I didn’t know what to expect. We found a weak link and started serving away from the setter so they couldn’t set up Griffitts and they had no answer for it.”

Three straight Griffitts’ kills staked the Trojans to an early 8-4 lead in the second set and the Trojans led 10-5 before Amelia Walters came up to serve.

The BC junior rattled the Trojans with a too hard to handle serve, scoring eight consecutive points and recording two aces while Trimble supplied two kills at the net to put the Chargers on top 12-11.

The Trojans knotted the set at 13 and 14 before Rice scored three straight to put the Chargers up, 17-15.

John Battle once again knotted the set at 17 before a Jessee kill gave BC an 18-17 lead. A Battle net violation increased the Chargers’ lead to 19-17.

The Trojans battled back to tie things up at 20 before a double-hit violation by Battle gave Bath a 21-20 lead.

Two straight Gentry aces increased Bath County’s lead to 23-20 and Trimble’s kill made it 24-21 as the Chargers went on to knot the match at one set apiece.

It was all Chargers from then on.

Amanda Shifflett staked the Chargers to an early 4-1 lead in the third with help from a Jessee kill and Gentry stuff block. Another Jessee kill increased the BC lead to 7-3.

Trimble added a kill to make it 9-4 and then reeled off another eight points from behind the service line – aided by three Jessee kills and serving up two aces herself – to increase Bath’s lead to 17-5.

Another Jessee kill made it 21-7 and Trimble’s kill made it 23-10.

Another Trimble kill extended BC’s lead to 24-11 as they cruised to the third set victory to take a two sets to one lead over the Trojans.

Jessee recorded a kill which she followed up with an ace to give Bath an early 5-3 lead in the fourth set and that was all the cushion the Chargers needed as they never looked back.

Two straight Trimble kills increased the BC lead to 10-5 and Jessee’s kill made it 12-9. A Griffitts’ kill brought John Battle to within one (12-11) but that would be as close as the Trojans would get.

Three straight Trimble kills increased Bath’s lead to 17-14 later in the set and her eighth kill of the set made it 19-17.

Two straight Jessee kills made it 21-17 in favor of the home team and Amanda Shifflett’s kill increased the Chargers’ lead to 23-18.

The Chargers would go on to score the next two out of three points and solidify their berth in the Group A final four.

“This is our house,” said McGee. “We were doing our best to neutralize number 28 (Griffitts). Jordan (Fry) came in and helped contribute as an extra blocker and we neutralized her.

“The state’s Final Four sounds great,” added McGee. “I don’t care who we play, we’re just happy to be going.”

The Chargers (24-1) advance to take on Region A champion Mathews, a winner over Altavista last night in Group A quarterfinal action at 2 p.m. Friday at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Siegal Center.

The first Group A semifinal pits defending state champion Gate City, a four-set winner over Radford, against Strasburg, a straight set winner over Northumberland, at 12 p.m.