Avery Volleyball Face Tough Trio of Foes as Conference Season Begins

The Avery Lady Vikings volleyball team met up with three tough opponents in action last week.

On September 15^th, the Lady Vikings traveled to Columbus to play the Lady Wolverines from Polk County. Arguably the strongest team in the conference this season, the Polk squad defeated Avery in three games by scores of 12-25, 16-25, and 9-25, respectively.

“We just couldn’t get going. Polk has a strong offense and a very smart service game,” Lady Vikings head coach Kim Hayes said.

Savannah Dellinger recorded six kills, with three kills each from Megan Robbins, Megan Tennant, and Johanna Pittman. Cassie Bumgarner tallied 20 assists.

The next evening Avery hosted the Draughn Lady Wildcats, falling in three tough games by scores of 13-25, 13-25, and 24-26, respectively.

“We made a lineup change and almost pulled a win out in the third game. The Draughn match was a much more exciting game than Polk. From the first time we played them until now, I could see 100 percent improvement,” Coach Hayes remarked. “As a coach you have to go away from wins and losses and really focus on the learning aspect of the game. I could see a huge difference with Avery volleyball than the first match we played them, and we competed with them the entire night.”

Jennie Elrod had six digs, with nine digs from Johanna Pittman, five digs from Melinda Eggers, and seven digs with 15 assists by Cassie Bumgarner. Savannah Dellinger, Megan Tennant, and Shayna Vance added three kills apiece.

On Thursday night Avery hosted conference rival Madison. The two teams played an even match that went the full five games. Avery won 25-20 to take the first game, but Madison tied the match with a 19-25 win. The Lady Vikings again pulled ahead in the third game with a 25-19 triumph, but Madison again rallied to knot the match at two games each in a 25-11 win. In the fifth and deciding game, it was Madison that grabbed an early lead and held off the Avery charge to win by a 15-7 final score.

“We totally had the momentum in this match. We just made some serving errors and hitting errors that cost us some critical points at critical times,” Coach Hayes said. “This is the first match that made it into a fifth game, much less past three games, so we are improving.”

Lacey Barrier had nine digs in the match, with 12 digs from Jennie Elrod, six digs from Savannah Dellinger, nine digs by Johanna Pittman, andfive digs by Melinda Eggers. Dellinger and Megan Tennant recorded seven kills each, with six from Megan Robbins, with 21 assists from Cassie Bumgarner.

“As the season is progressing we are getting everyone on the stat sheet. At the beginning, we would hardly have anything except errors and attempts. We finally have kids getting some kills and digs,” Coach Hayes added. “We will continue to keep working hard, and we will get to see these teams again in the second round.”

Avery volleyball played at Mountain Heritage this past Monday evening, and hosts McDowell and Mitchell on successive nights on Wednesday and Thursday.