Bulldogs earn berth in Regional volleyball tournament

By DAVE COX/Staff
TAZEWELL- A Region IV playoff berth was on the line and both Tazewell and Richlands played like teams possessed when the two squads met in the opening round of the 2007 Southwest District volleyball tournament on Tuesday, October 30 at the Tazewell High School gym.
The match went the full five-game limit before the Lady Bulldogs earned a hard fought 18-25, 26-24, 25-17, 13-25, 15-11 decision over a very determined Lady Blues’ contingent. Tazewell (12-9) traveled to Hillsville, home of regular season champion Carroll County to face the number one-seed Lady Cavaliers last Thursday in the SWD semifinals. The Lady Bulldogs lost to Carroll, but played again last Saturday in the consolation match against Marion, which fell to the Lady Falcons in Thursday’s other semifinal match at Hillsville. Tazewell was scheduled to host Salem on Monday, November 5 in the opening round of the Region IV tournament. Details of that match will appear in next week’s editions of the Clinch Valley News and Richlands News Press.
Richlands finished its season with an overall record of 8-13 and the Lady Blues went 4-8 in the SWD in the regular season.
Both Richlands head coach Ronnie Sparks and Tazewell head coach Robin Elkins agreed that their teams played their best match of the season in the opening SWD tournament round.
“They came ready to win,” Sparks said of his team. “They knew that they had to win tonight to continue to play and they went out there and did everything they could.”
“It took us a while to get the momentum going,” said Elkins. “We made a couple of changes and those changes worked for us, but I can’t say enough about (Richlands). They played with every bit of heart they had in them. They really did.”
The visitors jumped on Tazewell early and took the opening set 25-18 behind a good service effort from Ashley Morgan. She pumped across six points, including an ace as the Lady Blues overcame a 2-0 deficit to tie the contest at 5-5 and never trailed after that.
The second game was perhaps the most exciting of the night. Tazewell moved ahead 3-0 and built a 13-6 advantage, but the Blues rallied back to tie it at 15-15 before moving ahead 16-15. There were five ties after that with the final one coming at 24-24. THS got a rally point and Lindsey Scribner wrapped up the thrilling, close win for the Bulldogs with a final service point.
Tazewell won a relatively easy third game 25-17, thanks to nine service points from Abbey Kitts, who posted seven in a row at one point.
Undeterred, the Lady Blues put on a show in the following set, using the serving of Audra Morrow as a springboard to a 25-13 victory to tie the match 2-2 after the first four sets. Morrow started the game with nine of her 11 service points in the set to give her team a comfortable 9-0 lead. She stroked across three aces in the game.
The rubber game was tied at 2-2, 3-3, 4-4 and 9-9 before the Bulldogs finally took charge and never trailed on its way to a 15-11 win to take the match 3-2.
Morrow had a monster match for Richlands with 24 service points, including five aces. She added six kills and 16 digs. Morgan Hill also came up big with eight points (two aces) and 16 digs. Cassie Ringstaff finished with 10 points, 10 assists and 15 digs for the Lady Blues. Morgan managed an ace and had seven points for RHS. She also registered eight blocks. Paige Shifflett posted three points, five kills and 16 digs in the contest. Ashleigh Smith finished with four points and one kill. Libby Widener had two points. Jenny Medley chipped in with one point. Natalie Weaver had a kill and Samantha Martin finished with 14 digs for RHS.
Natalie Parsons paced Tazewell at the service line with 15 points. Kitts was right behind her with 13 points, including an ace. Scribner managed 12 points (one ace), Tiffany Harris six, Kara Neal five (one ace) and Katelyn Mitchell four (one ace).
Kitts had an amazing 30 assists and blocked three shots. Parsons also had three blocks. Lauren Bennett collected six kills and Sydnei Lester and Harris registered five kills apiece for the Lady Bulldogs.
“It’s a plus to be able to win just this one match and qualify for the Region IV tournament,” said a happy Elkins after the end of Tuesday’s match with Richlands. The top four teams in the district advance to the regional tourney under the new Virginia High School League’s new playoff format and those four teams were decided even before the SWD tournament reached the semifinals last Thursday at Hillsville.
“We just made a few too many service errors and gave Tazewell a lot of extra points that we shouldn’t have,” said Sparks. “You can’t do that in a close match, especially in a fifth game. I hate it for the seniors. The rest of the girls should be back next year and ready to go.”