The Shadow
HOT SPRINGS - Twin Towers Hillary Jessee and Carey Trimble are gone, but that did not deter the Bath County volleyball team in their season opener as they knocked off the Alleghany Mountaineers in straight sets.
Bath County won the match 25-15, 26-24, 25-8 to get their season started off on the right note.
“I was worried coming into tonight because Hillary (Jessee) and Carey (Trimble) have been the leaders of this team for three years now and I was worried who was going to take charge out on the court,” said Bath County coach Dave McGee. “But I liked what I saw, we communicated as a team and the leadership thing kind of took care of itself.
“When things weren’t going our way, they huddled up as a team and picked each other up. That was nice to see,” added McGee.
Amelia Walters got the Chargers off to a hot start in the first set with five straight service points to stake Bath County to an early 5-1 lead.
A kill from Eli McCutchen brought Alleghany to within three (6-3), but a Walters’ kill later in the set gave the Lady Chargers a 10-6 lead.
Alleghany closed the gap to two (14-12) and Emily Depriest brought them to within one with an ace.
But kills from Walters and Amanda Shifflett increased Bath County’s lead to 18-14. Shifflett added an ace and Ashley Rice contributed a kill to give BC a 21-14 lead as the Chargers cruised to the first set victory.
The Lady Mounties jumped out to an early 7-5 lead behind two stuff blocks from senior Mindy Gillispie in the early-going of set two.
An ace from McCutchen and an Erin Durham kill gave AHS a 12-9 lead and the Mountaineers led by as many as five points (15-10).
Alleghany led 21-18 late in the set, but Walters reeled off five straight points to give Bath County a 23-22 lead.
Jordan Fry’s stuff block gave Bath County a 24-22 lead and set-point, but a long serve from Katie Rice and a McCutchen kill knotted the set at 24.
Bath County would score the next two points to win the set and take a 2-0 lead heading into the third set.
The third set was all Chargers as they jumped out to an early 2-1 lead behind two kills from Rice and never look back.
A kill from Shifflett increased Bath County’s lead to 8-4 and Shifflett added three aces later in the set to give BC a 13-4 lead.
The Lady Chargers served up six aces in the final set as they cruised to the season-opening win.
“They beat us to the net all night long,” said Alleghany coach Jackie Almarode. “I’ve told my team time and time again that whoever gets to the net first is going to have the upperhand and they won that battle.
“They executed better than we did tonight. We’ve got to get our hitters going,” added Almarode.
Walters and Shifflett led Bath County servers with 16 points apiece with Walters contributing six kills and Shifflett adding eight kills.
Katie Rice added 10 points and six kills, while sister Ashley finished with nine points and 27 assists.
Emily Bartley had eight points, Jordan Fry finished with six, Alexa Faraone chipped in four and Mary McCoy rounded out the BC scoring with three points.
Peterson and Depriest led the AHS servers with 10 points each, while McCutchen just missed double figures with nine points.
Kristen Rose added seven points, Durham chipped in four and Rachelle Casstevens added three.
Brittany Reed chipped in two points and Maegan Walton and Sara Church rounded out the AHS scoring with one point each.
Gillispie contributed five blocks for the Lady Mounties.
Alleghany (1-1) takes today off before hosting James River in their home opener on Thursday to cap off a busy week.
Bath County (1-0) takes the rest of the week off before going on the road next Tuesday at Grace Christian.
The Chargers made it a sweep with a 25-11, 26-24 win in the preliminary.
