The Shadow
BUENA VISTA – Region C Champs!
For the first time in school history, the Bath County volleyball team captured advanced past the Region C semifinals Saturday as they swept Three Rivers District foes Auburn and Radford en route to the region title.
“It’s our house,” said Bath County volleyball coach Dave McGee. “I’ve said it was their year all along and they came out and handled business. It’s just awesome.”
It’s also awesome that by winning their first Region C title that the Lady Chargers will host Region D runner-up John Battle (20-4) Tuesday in Hot Springs.
The Lady Chargers played through the entire Region C tournament without even losing a set.
“That’s pretty impressive,” stated McGee. “If you would’ve told me before the tournament that we would win three games without losing a set I would’ve laughed at you. I thought for sure Auburn would’ve took us to four sets, possibly even five.”
The Lady Chargers secured their first title with a 25-15, 25-18, 25-22 win over the Radford Bobcats (16-8), who made it to the title game with an impressive come-from-behind five-set win over Galax in the afternoon’s first semifinal.
Twin towers Hillary Jessee and Carey Trimble totally dominated net play and the Chargers as a whole looked equally as dominant.
Jessee and Trimble combined for 35 kills in the title match and 65 kills between them in the two matches.
Amanda Shifflett’s kill staked the Lady Chargers to a 1-0 lead in the first set of the title match and they never looked back.
Trimble’s kill increased Bath County’s lead to 8-4 and Jessee’s stuff blcok made it 12-9. The Bobcats trailed 14-12 following an ace by Maryah Sydnor but an ace by Jesee and a kill by Beth Gentry increased BC’s lead to 17-13.
A kill from Amelia Walters gave the Chargers a 21-14 lead and Trimble ended the first set with her fourth kill of the match to give Bath County a one set to none lead.
Radford led through much of the second set until the Lady Chargers battled back and took a 16-14 lead after a five-point service run by sophomore setter Ashley Rice. Jessee and Shifflett both had kills in the run and Rice also added an ace.
Jessee’s kill gave the Lady Chargers a 17-15 lead and Shifflett reeled off five straight points from behind the service line – including three straight aces – to increase Bath County’s lead to 22-16.
Bath County led 24-16 on a Trimble kill and another Trimble kill ended the set to put BC up two sets to none heading into the third set.
Trimble’s backline kill gave Bath County an early 2-1 lead in the third set but the Lady Bobcats rallied back to take a 6-3 lead. Radford led by as many as four (12-8) and led 16-15 at the midway point of the third set.
Two staight Trimble kills knotted the set at 17 before a long spike attempt by Sydnor gave the Lady Chargers an 18-17 lead.
Walters added two more points from behind the service line to increased BC’s lead to 20-18 and the Chargers led 21-19 following back-to-back net serves from both teams.
Sydnor’s kill brought the Bobcats to within one (21-20) but Jessee’s kill increased the Lady Chargers lead to 22-20.
Radford again cut their deficit to one (22-21) but that would be as close as they would get as the Lady Chargers went on to score three of the next four points with Jessee’s 19th kill of the match putting the exclamation point on the day for the Lady Chargers and giving them their first Region C championship.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Jessee. “It’s awesome to finally get the monkey off our backs and advance to the state tournament. We’re really starting to peak as a team and I’m just glad we were able to come out and make a statement.”
The monkey Jessee was referring to was the Auburn Eagles (17-5), whom the Lady Chargers knocked off in three sets in the day’s second semifinal to advance to the title game.
Bath County dismantled the Eagles in the semifinals in dominating fashion 25-22, 25-19, 25-17.
Auburn ended Bath County’s storybook season last year in a Region C quarterfinal match in Hot Springs.
The Lady Chargers went 20-0 throughout the regular season before falling to the Eagles on their homecourt to end their season.
“I can’t even explain how awesome it was to beat them in three sets,” said McGee. “All I’ve heard all season is the Three Rivers District.
Auburn, Glenvar, Radford and I never heard anything about the Bath County Chargers. I’m glad we were able to come out and show everyone what we are capable of doing on the floor. Maybe we will start to get a little recognition.”
The Three Rivers District champs held early leads in all three sets only to see the Chargers come roaring back off the net play of Jessee and Trimble.
“Everyone was talking about how number 32 (Jordan Watson) was going to give Hillary and Carey a fit at the net,” added McGee. “Hillary and Carey totally dominated her at the net and we as a team totally dominated them. They had no answer.”
Watson’s kill gave the Lady Eagles an early 3-2 lead in the first set but Jessee’s stuff block knotted the set at three. The set was again knotted at four, five and six before Walters’ kill gave Bath a 7-6 lead they would never relinquish.
A five-point run from Trimble – aided by two kills and a stuff block from Jessee – increased Bath’s lead to 13-8.
Katie Hudak’s stuff block brought the Eagles to within three (18-15) and Watson’s kill pulled them to within two (20-18).
Auburn got to within one (21-20) following an ace by senior Joelle Gross but Jessee’s stuff block gave Bath County a 22-20 lead. Jessee’s kill made the score 24-22 and she followed it up with an ace to end the first set.
The Eagles one again held an early 3-2 lead in set two before the Chargers knotted the set at three. Shifflett then reeled off five straight points -aided by two Jessee kills and a Gentry stuff block – to give the Lady Chargers an 8-4 lead.
Rice’s kill increased the Chargers’ lead to 9-4 but the Eagles rallied back to pull to within one (11-10).
Senior libero Sara Philpott reeled off three service points to increase Bath County’s lead to 14-11 and Walters’ kill made it 16-12.
Bath led 19-17 later in the set before Shifflett reeled off four straight points with help from Jessee’s two kills to increase BC’s lead to 23-18.
Back-to-back long serves from both teams increased Bath County’s lead to 24-19 and Trimble ended the set with a kill to give the Lady Chargers a two sets to none lead.
The Lady Eagles led 6-5 early in the third set before Bath knotted the set at six and took a 7-6 lead on an ace by Jessee. Jessee’s backline kill increased Bath County’s lead to 9-7 and two straight Trimble kills made it 11-8.
Shifflett’s kill increased Bath’s lead to 14-10 later in the set and they led 16-10 following an ace by Trimble. Watson’s stuff block brought Auburn to within six (20-14) but Jessee followed it with a huge kill.
Two straight aces from Jessee increased Bath County’s lead to 24-16 and they led 24-17 before Trimble ended the set and the match and punched Bath’s ticket to the state tourney and the Region C title match with her 11th kill of the match.
“Hard work pays off,” said McGee. “I knew once we got rolling that there was nothing to worry about. We had different defenses for each one of their hitters and they didn’t adjust. I’m just glad we got the monkey off our back. We wanted Auburn bad and we got `em.”
Tuesday’s Group A quarterfinal match in Hot Springs is set for 7 p.m.
