Lady 'Cats take home Spike and Dig plaque
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
HILLSBORO — For the first seven years of the Highland County Spike-and-Dig Volleyball Tournament, either Hillsboro or McClain were the winners. It's time to make room for the Whiteoak Lady Wildcats.
On Saturday at Hillsboro High School, the Lady 'Cats didn't lose a set as they defeated the Hillsboro Lady Indians and McClain Lady Tigers en route to winning the season-opening volleyball tournament.
And to think, when the current seniors on the Whiteoak team were in the eighth grade, they won just once.
"This group of seniors showed here how hard work can eventually pay off," WHS head coach Don Rahe said. "Winning just once when they were in the eighth grade to how they've progressed now … they've made themselves players. They listen, practice hard and I just have a great group of kids here.
"Our seniors have shown great leadership."
In the semifinal round, WHS defeated HHS in two sets by scores of 25-22 and 25-20. In the finals, WHS took down three-time defending champion of the Spike-and-Dig tournament McClain by scores of 25-17 and 25-18.
Hillsboro won the consolation match, where they defeated Lynchburg-Clay, 25-17 and 25-15.
McClain reached the finals with a two-set win over the Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs, 25-17 and 25-18. (With the tournament on a rotating basis with the the Southern Hills League schools, Fairfield sat out this season.)
"Both Hillsboro and McClain played very well against us," Rahe said. "Our girls are scrappers. They were everywhere on the court, and we just kept the games going until our opponents made a mistake.
[[In-content Ad]]"We have six seniors and nine juniors, and our JV won their tournament, too, so I'm proud of the program. Also, the play from our setters (Brandy McClure and Burns) helped set up our hammers in (Amber) Gorman and Katie Mowery."
In the championship match between the Lady 'Cats (who were playing without one of their top players in McKenzee Martin, who was out with an illness) and Lady Tigers, MHS got off to an early lead in game one, but WHS eventually tied the score at 4-4. After WHS built a nice lead, it was MHS who tied the score at 13. During that span of making the score a 13-13 deadlock, Christine Hamilton, Amber Gorman and Mikayla Burns all added points to the WHS side of the scoreboard (including an ace on serve by Gorman), while for MHS, Abby Storts helped bring the score to the tie at 13.
Again, the score continued to be tied in the first game at 14, 15 and 16, but from there, an ace by Gorman, along with points from Hamilton and Burns, helped WHS gain the 1-0 advantage after the first game.
In the second game of the finals, the score was tied five times, lastly at 10-10. In that span, MHS had points by Alli Willett, Storts, Caitlyn Lovett, Allie Orr-Zody, Kelcey Smith and tying the game at 10 was MaKenzie Olaker.
Gorman put MHS back ahead at 11-10, as WHS eventually built a 15-10 advantage with the help of an ace by Emma Wardlow.
Later in the second game, Hamilton put WHS ahead 17-11, and MHS made it a four-point deficit with help from Lovett. Hamilton made it a 19-14 lead in favor of the Lady 'Cats and ended the game and match with an ace for the win.
"Our girls played well all summer in tournaments, so it's not a surprise we've continued our play into the high school regular season," Rahe said.
In the third-place consolation match, Hillsboro won two straight sets.
The first game between LC and HHS was tied just once in the early stages. From there, HHS built a 7-2 lead with points by Heather Tipton, Kirsten Juillerat and Autumn Hacker as Hacker made it a five-point lead with a block at the front of the net.
LC cut into the lead as HHS hit the ball on their own side of the net or out of play. HHS maintained and but a lead of 14-8 with a point scored by Megan Overberg. Later in the game, Cailin Wehrung put the lead at 18-11 with an ace. The lead increased to 21-13 consecutive aces by Tipton. HHS ended the game with a spike by Overberg.
Game two in the consolation game was tied four times with the latest at 12, and later, the score was a 16-13 lead for HHS with a point at the net of Hacker. Later, Juillerat made it a 19-14 score and Hacker ended the match with the 25th point.
On Saturday at Hillsboro High School, the Lady 'Cats didn't lose a set as they defeated the Hillsboro Lady Indians and McClain Lady Tigers en route to winning the season-opening volleyball tournament.
And to think, when the current seniors on the Whiteoak team were in the eighth grade, they won just once.
"This group of seniors showed here how hard work can eventually pay off," WHS head coach Don Rahe said. "Winning just once when they were in the eighth grade to how they've progressed now … they've made themselves players. They listen, practice hard and I just have a great group of kids here.
"Our seniors have shown great leadership."
In the semifinal round, WHS defeated HHS in two sets by scores of 25-22 and 25-20. In the finals, WHS took down three-time defending champion of the Spike-and-Dig tournament McClain by scores of 25-17 and 25-18.
Hillsboro won the consolation match, where they defeated Lynchburg-Clay, 25-17 and 25-15.
McClain reached the finals with a two-set win over the Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs, 25-17 and 25-18. (With the tournament on a rotating basis with the the Southern Hills League schools, Fairfield sat out this season.)
"Both Hillsboro and McClain played very well against us," Rahe said. "Our girls are scrappers. They were everywhere on the court, and we just kept the games going until our opponents made a mistake.
[[In-content Ad]]"We have six seniors and nine juniors, and our JV won their tournament, too, so I'm proud of the program. Also, the play from our setters (Brandy McClure and Burns) helped set up our hammers in (Amber) Gorman and Katie Mowery."
In the championship match between the Lady 'Cats (who were playing without one of their top players in McKenzee Martin, who was out with an illness) and Lady Tigers, MHS got off to an early lead in game one, but WHS eventually tied the score at 4-4. After WHS built a nice lead, it was MHS who tied the score at 13. During that span of making the score a 13-13 deadlock, Christine Hamilton, Amber Gorman and Mikayla Burns all added points to the WHS side of the scoreboard (including an ace on serve by Gorman), while for MHS, Abby Storts helped bring the score to the tie at 13.
Again, the score continued to be tied in the first game at 14, 15 and 16, but from there, an ace by Gorman, along with points from Hamilton and Burns, helped WHS gain the 1-0 advantage after the first game.
In the second game of the finals, the score was tied five times, lastly at 10-10. In that span, MHS had points by Alli Willett, Storts, Caitlyn Lovett, Allie Orr-Zody, Kelcey Smith and tying the game at 10 was MaKenzie Olaker.
Gorman put MHS back ahead at 11-10, as WHS eventually built a 15-10 advantage with the help of an ace by Emma Wardlow.
Later in the second game, Hamilton put WHS ahead 17-11, and MHS made it a four-point deficit with help from Lovett. Hamilton made it a 19-14 lead in favor of the Lady 'Cats and ended the game and match with an ace for the win.
"Our girls played well all summer in tournaments, so it's not a surprise we've continued our play into the high school regular season," Rahe said.
In the third-place consolation match, Hillsboro won two straight sets.
The first game between LC and HHS was tied just once in the early stages. From there, HHS built a 7-2 lead with points by Heather Tipton, Kirsten Juillerat and Autumn Hacker as Hacker made it a five-point lead with a block at the front of the net.
LC cut into the lead as HHS hit the ball on their own side of the net or out of play. HHS maintained and but a lead of 14-8 with a point scored by Megan Overberg. Later in the game, Cailin Wehrung put the lead at 18-11 with an ace. The lead increased to 21-13 consecutive aces by Tipton. HHS ended the game with a spike by Overberg.
Game two in the consolation game was tied four times with the latest at 12, and later, the score was a 16-13 lead for HHS with a point at the net of Hacker. Later, Juillerat made it a 19-14 score and Hacker ended the match with the 25th point.