The Shadow
The Alleghany Mountaineers and Covington Cougars cheer sections came supporting their teams Thursday night at the Cougar Den for the varsity volleyball match.
With each score made, both cheer sections brought out the energy as if it were game winning point.
It was on this night, the Cougars bested the Mountaineers with a 3-1 victory.
After dropping the first set 23-25. the Cougars came roaring back to win 25-16 in the second set.
After a tight start to the third set, the Cougars grabbed the lead and did not look back to a 25-20 third set win.
In the fourth set with the score tied at 12, the Mountaineers took a one point advantage before the Cougars scored seven unanswered to take a 19-13 lead.
The Mountaineers though did not put their heads down and eventually tied the game at 24 a piece.
Two made points later and the Cougars found themselves with a second straight win after winning the last set 26-24.
Breanna Reynolds spiked home the final point of the set past a Mountaineer defender to send the Cougar Den to thunderous roar.
Aubrey Brown led the way for the Cougars with nine kills and nine assists.
Lexi Dressler also added nine assists for the Cougars in the win, while Nikki Jordan had a game-high 19 digs.
Kinsey Middleton led the team with 13 digs for the Mountaineers to go along with nine assists.
Erin Harden also added four kills and six aces.
After dropping back their opener to James River last week, the win over the Mountaineers gave the Cougars their second in a row after shutting out Parry McCluer on Tuesday night 3-0 in their Pioneer District opener.
Brown and Cristi Persinger each had seven kills in the win for the Cougars while Dressler had a game-high 14 assists.
For the Mountaineers, the loss was the teams fourth in a row.
The team lost their Tuesday night match with Wilson Memorial in four sets, 3-1.
In the loss on Tuesday, Middleton led the way for the Mountaineers with four aces, seven assists, and five digs.
Payton Reynolds added three kills a team-high 21 digs, while Harden chipped in with five kills and five digs.
Much like their game against the Cougars, the Mountaineers had won the first set 25-23 before dropping their last three sets.
“I thought that we went in to the game strong. From losing 15, 10, and 10 in three straight sets the first time playing them, last night wasn’t horrible until the third set”, said Mountaineer head coach, Hannah Bradley on her teams performance against Wilson Memorial Tuesday night.
The momentum from their first set victory did not carry over the rest of the way, including a 25-9 third set loss.
“Our momentum was up after the first set, but when we lost a point, we got down on ourselves and struggled to come back”, said coach Bradley on the teams momentum being halted after the first set.
Coach Bradley added “We were also playing without two of our big assets to the team, Alyssa Taylor and Bre Phillips. Some of the girls playing last night were playing in positions they don’t typically play in, so all in all, last night was not terrible. We are ready to keep growing as a team and come out tougher and stronger each match.”
The Mountaineers will look to snap their losing streak Monday at Eastern Montgomery.
The Cougars meanwhile will look to keep their winning streak going against Roanoke Catholic in Roanoke on Monday.
Meanwhile, the Mountaineers JV team defeated the Cougars last night in two sets to improve to 5-0 on the season.
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Covington d. P. McCluer
Team Score
CHS 25 26 25
P. McCluer 8 24 15
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Covington d. Alleghany
Team Score
AHS 25 16 20 24
CHS 23 25 25 26
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W Memorial d. Alleghany
Team Score
WM 23 25 25 25
AHS 25 19 9 18
