Patrick Henry knew its move from the Western Valley District to the powerful River Ridge would bring some challenges for the Patriot volleyball program.
Tuesday night at the PH gym, 5-time state champions Cave Spring came visiting, and although Cave Spring left with a 3-game 25-13; 25-20; 27-25 sweep, the Patriots showed they are intent on not being satisfied at being in the middle of the pack.
“The River Ridge is very good volleyball,” PH head coach Patty Sheedy noted after the match. “When we get to tournament time, playing this caliber of team helps you be prepared. We won’t have a district tournament and the teams in our district will go four different ways. We’ll be facing some tough competition at the 6A level, so this level of play gets you ready.”
PH didn’t go down without a fight Tuesday night.
Cave Spring came out on fire in game one, dominating at the net to jump out to a 10-3 lead before coasting to the 25-13 win. The Knights played receive, set and kill to perfection and only had one service error throughout the opening game.
The Patriots regrouped in game two, opening a 13-8 lead at one point before the serve of Knight’s senior Kallie Wilkes got Cave Spring close. Game two was tied at 18 and 20, but the Knights scored the final five points off the serve of Lauren Sigmon to get the 25-20 victory.
Game three was tied at every point from 17 through 21, and PH sent the game to overtime at 25-25 before Cave Spring finished off a 2-point run on a monster kill to take the clincher.
“It came down to lack of experience,” Sheedy pointed out. “We’re a young team and the pressure of playing a good team like Cave Spring showed. The girls got the final two games into the 20s but couldn’t finish it off.”
“We looked sharp in the first game, then we started making unforced errors and it got sloppy,” Cave Spring head coach Tamalyn Tanis said. “We played a lot of players tonight and got the win.”
“We were great in the first game and suddenly we started playing down,” Knights sophomore Shannon Holsinger noted. “It seemed like we were just going through the motions.”
Piper Roe led the Cave Spring attack with 8 kills, while fellow-sophomore Cait Flippen added 7 blasts past the Patriot defense. Senior setter Olivia Sass provided 30 assists.
One the PH side of the net Taylor Eichelberger had 7 kills and 6 digs, Bradley Smith had 6 kills and 5 blocks, with Annalee Lowman and Olivia Pullin bringing up 8 and 5 digs, respectfully.
– Bill Turner
