The Shadow
MONDAY NIGHT CELEBRATION — The Covington volleyball team celebrates a point during Monday night’s Western Gate Conference 45 first round win over Craig County at the Cougar Den. (Lesley Nickell Photo)
MONDAY NIGHT CELEBRATION — The Covington volleyball team celebrates a point during Monday night’s Western Gate Conference 45 first round win over Craig County at the Cougar Den. (Lesley Nickell Photo)
•
•
RINER — Auburn has state volleyball championship banners hanging for both 2012 and 2013.
Covington coach Mary Tyree isn’t so sure they won’t be putting up another in a couple of weeks.
Tuesday night in the semifinals of the Western Gate Conference 45 tournament, the Eagles powered their way past the Cougars in straight sets 25-12, 25-8, 25-16.
The Eagles (26-4) used a 37-10 hitting advantage to advance to Thursday’s conference championship match-up against Radford.
“They (Auburn) don’t miss a beat,” said Tyree. “They’re good, talented, disciplined — they’re just very good.”
Madison Shumaker led Auburn with 14 kills, while Amber Sowers added 13 and Andrea Tiller had eight.
The Cougars were paced by Dakota Botkin’s four kills and two from Azia Cardwell.
Kelsey Young had six digs, while Laramie McCallister added two aces, seven assists and three digs.
The Cougars finished the year 13-14.
“That record doesn’t define us,” said Tyree. “We define each other. This is a team I truly love and care about. We made friendships for a lifetime.”
Monday night at the Cougar Den, Tyree’s team won a four-set first round match over Craig County to advance to Tuesday’s semifinals 25-20, 25-16, 23-25, 25-21.
Botkin, who ended the year with a team-high 163 kills, had a big 15-kill match for the winners, Cardwell had seven, Laramie McCallister had five and Taylor Ginger added four.
Abby McCallister had seven aces and Laramie McCallister delivered 27 assists.
Young (18), Laramie McCallister (15) and Maddi Myers (11) all had double figure dig numbers.
The Covington back line — Laramie and Abby McCallister, Young and Myers all had over 180 digs for the season, led by Young with 386.
“We played very well,” Tyree said. “Dakota had a big night, we had good sets and our back line had a good night.”
The Rockets had won two of three regular season meetings with the Cougars.
Grace Faw had 14 kills and 13 digs for Craig County, while Brittany Austin added 11 kills.
“I think sometimes when you a see a team more in the regular season it helps,” Tyree said. “That’s the one thing about this team. When they see a team over and over they remember things from previous matches.”
Pioneer District Tournament
On Saturday at Craig County, James River captured another Pioneer District tournament title defeating Parry McCluer in straight sets in the championship match.
Covington lost to the Fighting Blues in a three-set semifinal 30-28, 25-19, 25-19.
The Cougars never recovered from a tight first set loss.
Tyree’s group came back from 23-19 down and saved four different set points before falling.
Kristina Van Brocklin’s serve was a big difference. She had a match-high 10 aces for the winners.
“We never recovered from the first set,” said Tyree. “Parry McCluer’s serving was tremendous and we just couldn’t dig it up. No. 14 (Van Brocklin) has an awesome serve. That’s what killed us — serve receive.”
