In golf, the Lady Vikings hosted McDowell and Mountain Heritage in a nine-hole event at Sugar Mountain Golf Club in a final tune-up before the conference tournament next week.Mountain Heritage continued its strong play this season in shooting a team score of 143. McDowell placed second with a 153 team score, while Avery finished with a 166 team score.
Jerica Ledford of Mountain Heritage shot the low score as the teams only tackled the back nine holes of the mountain course. The low score registered by an Avery golfer was 53 by Kendra Puckett.
The Lady Vikings compete in a two-day conference tournament next week, on Monday at Black Mountain Golf Course, and on Tuesday at Mountain Glen in Newland.
Meanwhile, the Avery tennis closed out the home portion of its regular season in style, first in beating Hendersonville Tuesday on Senior night, then by avenging a loss suffered earlier this season at the hands of Mountain Heritage on Thursday.
In singles action, the Lady Vikings got strong play from senior teammates Lauren Avery and Morgan Stout, the latter playing a dominant match in winning by a 10-3 match score. Haley Shell was victorious in her singles match, while senior Anna Melton beat Heritage's #1 Penny Lane Buckner by the final score of 10-6 in a great display of tennis between two strong and talented competitors.
The singles match victories put the Big Red ahead by a 4-2 overall scores going into doubles play, where Avery captured two out of the three doubles matches to earn a hard-fought 6-3 team victory.
The victories this week improves the Lady Vikings to 6-3 this season, and will look to pick up its seventh victory overall when they travel to Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy for a 4 p.m. match coming up on Tuesday.
The Avery volleyball teams squared off with conference foe Polk County at Viking Gym on Thursday evening. Avery's JV team fought a tough match with the Lady Wolverines in taking the first game by a 26-24 score, but was unable to hold off the visiting Polk club, who won the final two games for a comeback victory.
In varsity action, the Polk County club brought a tall and talented team into Big Red Country. Polk pulled away late in game one to take a 25-17 win. In set two the Lady Wolverines jumped out to an early 12-5 advantage using its solid defense and big hitters. Following an Avery timeout, the Lady Wolverines continued to play tough, taking 7 of the next 9 points to lead 19-7 en route to a 25-10 win in set two.Avery fell behind early to Polk in the third final set of the match, as the Lady Wolverines scored the first eight points of the set. The Lady Vikings refused to give up, but the Polk club proved too much to overcome, using its strong kills and athletic blocks and digs on defense to close out the match with a 25-13 victory.
Avery travels to Madison this Tuesday in Western Highlands Conference volleyball action, and returns home to Viking Gym on Thursday, October 15th for Senior Night against Mountain Heritage.
On Wednesday night, the Avery soccer team hosted rival Owen in a conference battle at a cool and breezy MacDonald Stadium. The Vikings drew first blood in the match when Dillon Gentry sent a pass ahead to Kyle Griewisch, leaving Avery scorer for the season, slipped through the Warhorse defense and planted a low shot into the lower left-hand corner of the goal to spot the Big Red a 1-0 lead.
Owen managed to answer with a goal late in the half, however, when a long throw-in by Tony Halvorson was headed in by Owen's Pedro Jose Bernio Bernio to tie the match at 1-1 which was the score at halftime.
The first half was physical as the teams combined for 14 fouls, while both defenses were strong, allowing only three shots apiece through the opening 40 minutes.
In the second half, the Warhorses managed a pair of goals which served as the difference in the 3-1 final score.
Avery soccer played its second match in two days on Thursday when it traveled to Johnson City for a non-conference match against Providence Academy. The teams battled to a 1-1 tie in their earlier matchup in Newland. On Thursday Providence took advantage of a non-call inside the box, scoring a goal that proved the difference in a 1-0 Avery defeat.
The clubs brought a powerful defensive effort to the pitch, as neither team could crack the scoreboard through the opening 40 minutes of play. Providence was the beneficiary of a non-call which should have stopped play. Providence took advantage of the situation by scoring a goal that ended up being the game-winner.
Avery's record falls to 8-5-2 overall on the season and will make the journey to Rutherford County to take on Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy this Monday.
Finally on Thursday the Avery JV football squad fell to the Hendersonville Bearcats by the final score of 36-0 at MacDonald Stadium. Hendersonville led by only a 14-0 score at intermission thanks to a goal-line stand by the Big Red defense. The Bearcats pulled away in the final two quarters, however, outscoring the Vikings 22-0 in the second half.
The Bearcats returned a pair of interceptions for touchdowns to help capture the victory. Avery's JV football team will travel to Columbus to play Polk County next week.
