By Jared Everett. BOONE, N.C. — For most of its Aug. 27 season-opening matchup, Watauga District Middle School matched everything the visiting Table Rock MS football team threw at them. However, the Wolverines could not overcome the five turnovers that disrupted promising offensive possessions in ultimately losing to the visitors, 22-14.
All photos by Jared Everett, processed by David Rogers for High Country Sports.
By David Rogers. WEST JEFFERSON, N.C. — For the second time this week, the Watauga High School volleyball team fell behind to a non-conference opponent on the road, then rallied to capture a nailbiter of a win. The August 27 victim: longtime High Country rival, Ashe County, 3-1 (22-25, 25-14, 25-11, 27-25).
After falling to the Huskies in the first set, 22-25, the Pioneers gained their footing and breezed through the second and third sets rather handily, winning 25-14 and 25-11, respectively.
And that is when the real drama began. Ashe County seemed determined to defend their home court and jumped out to a seemingly insurmountable advantage. Leading 19-10 in the fourth set, the Huskies looked like they would tie the match at two sets apiece.
“If there is a word that best describes this 2025 Watauga team, it is ‘resilient,’” said a smiling Pioneer head coach, Kim Pryor, after her charges rallied from the edge of fourth set oblivion to secure the win, in overtime, no less. “We are steady. We don’t get rattled when things turn against us. We know we can come back from anything. We are banking these games and building something big, I hope.
“We schedule non-conference opponents like this because it prepares us for the tests we will face in Northwestern Conference play and beyond the regular season, in the playoffs,” added Pryor. “Ashe County is a well-coached, quality team with some terrific players, every year. They really work in the off-season. They are a great team with a lot of talent. That is why we are playing them twice in non-conference play. We both know we need these kinds of challenges.”
It is hard to pinpoint any individual behind the Pioneers’ dramatic rally from being down 19-10 in the decisive fourth set. An obvious choice for many would be the powerful serves and kill shots of senior outside hitter, Emma Pastusic — and few would argue that viewpoint. But others will point to the service runs by junior outside hitter Ashlyn Smith, junior defensive specialist Graycie Collins and senior defensive specialist Lilli Combs, as well as sophomore libero Caroline Childers. Still more will describe the scrambling sets fashioned by junior setter Lainey Gragg or opportunistic dinks, as well as slams by front row role players Kora Knight, Julia Rowan and Addie Stough.
All would be right, of course, because volleyball is a team game won or lost by the individual contributions of players who effectively “connect” with each other.
“We’ve been working on our setter-hitter connections,” said Pastusic after the game. “Making the ball faster and getting to it faster, placing the ball better and better arm swings, so the ball goes down.”
Critical to the success of those setters and hitters are the back row skills to dig out often powerful kill shots by an opponent and keep the ball in play.
“As a defensive specialist,” said Combs, “my role is to keep the ball in play, but at the same time to pass the ball to the primary setter in a way that makes it easier for her to deliver the perfect set for our hitters. It’s a challenge sometimes, but a lot of fun.”
The now 6-1 Pioneers have little time to celebrate their Aug. 27 win. They are on the road again Aug. 28, facing Forbush (East Bend, N.C., in northeastern Yadkin County), 4-3, with tight matches of its own against quality opponents Mount Tabor and East Forsyth.
Watauga’s junior varsity Pioneers breezed through their curtain-raiser match with a two-set sweep, 25-11, 25-13. Stat leaders included:
By David Rogers. HICKORY, N.C. — Another Watauga volleyball match against regional rival Hickory, another stiff test. This time, the Pioneers turned the tables on the Red Tornadoes, taking a 3-1 win (26-24, 23-25, 25-21, 25-21) in David Craft Gymnasium.
Now 5-1 on the young season, the Pioneers’ only loss was to the Red Tornadoes in the season opener, 3-1, on Aug. 11, in Lentz Eggers Gym. So there was a “revenge” element to the Aug. 25 rematch.
Watauga started slow, finding it difficult to cover open areas behind their outside hitters and middle blockers. Hickory exploited those to jump out to an early, 6-3 lead, but the resilient Pioneers eventually figured things out and the opening set at 9-9. from there, it was a see-saw battle to the very end. Watauga squandered a 23-20 lead and allowed Hickory to push the game into overtime before the visitors from Boone could close it out, 26-24.
Although Hickory demonstrated their own resilience in taking the second set, Watauga’s offensive attack was relentless, especially behind the deft setting of Lainey Gragg (45 assists) and subsequent kill opportunities for outside hitters Emma Pastusic (24 kills) and Ashlyn Smith (16). That relentless attack mindset was clearly defined by Pastusic, who somehow manufactured kill shots from even awkward situations after the Pioneers’ back row (often led by Smith and libero Caroline Childers) dug out ferocious attacks by the Red Tornadoes and kept the ball in play.
Once again, the Pioneers proved to be a serve machine, combining for 11 aces. Pastusic’s five aces came mostly on powerful top-spin deliveries that dropped swiftly over the net and were hard for the Hickory athletes to handle. Graycie Collins added a trio of well placed aces, to go along with a pair by Childers and one by Gragg.
Our attack was relentless.
One of the game stats that stands out for this particular match is the greater defensive success crafted by the Pioneers in recording seven “stuff blocks” on Hickory attacks. Even in their previous four wins on the still early season, this aspect of the Pioneer game was largely missing. At Hickory, three Pioneers recorded two stuff blocks each: Gragg, Kora Knight and Julia Rowan. Smith added another defensive gem.
“In any game,” said Watauga head coach Kim Pryor, “you have to adjust to what (your opponent) is doing. Early on, Hickory was hitting holes they weren’t hitting last time we played. Give them credit because they adjusted to some of the things we were doing. So we had to adjust back. It took us a minute.”
Even though the Pioneers rallied to squeak out a first set win, Pryor said she hold her players, “That is not our best game.”
Pryor reiterated that observation after the visitors lost the second set.
“But we kept getting better and better as we won the third and fourth sets,” said Pryor. “It is all about making adjustments and executing when you see what the other team is doing. I think the real story of this match was our relentless offense. We kept attacking and attacking. We got down, we attacked. We missed a few serves, we attacked. We corrected a few mistakes and finished strong.”
Smith, the Pioneers’ junior outside hitter, admitted afterwards to “… still being on an adrenaline high. I feel like our whole team was on fire tonight. We played together. Our communication was at a high level and that led to highs in our physical play, as well. I mean, really, we just went out there and had fun. When we have fun and play together, we win. Our unity is strong.”
Next up for Watauga is a High Country rivalry match at Ashe County, on Wednesday, Aug. 27. Varsity first serve is scheduled for 6 p.m., following a 4:30 p.m. junior varsity curtain raiser.
CORRECTION: In our original report, we identified Graycie Phelps (No. 1) as having served a trio of service aces. We should have identified that player as Graycie Collins (No. 11). We apologize for the misidentification.
Watauga’s junior varsity won in straight sets, 25-18, 25-17. Statistical leaders included:
By David Rogers. WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (remote) — A slick-passing William & Mary women’s soccer team, along with its physically aggressive defense, upended visiting App State hopes of extending an unblemished, early season record. With goals in each half, The Tribe defeated the Mountainers, 2-0, in Martin Family Stadium at Albert-Daly Field, in front of more than 300 soccer fans.
App State mostly controlled possession for the first seven minutes of play on Aug. 24, but momentum shifted and The Tribe gained the upper hand by being first to the ball and executing deft, one- and two-touch passes to work the ball up the field, offensively, a model they executed for most of the match.
In the 54th minute, App State’s redshirt freshman goalkeeper, Anna Claire Jacobi, rushed out to smother a Tribe attack near the left front corner of the penalty box, but with Jacobi on the ground in what can only be described as a muddle involving Jacobi, W & M’s Molly Widderich and the Tribe’s Ivey Crain, the ball slipped out toward the center. An opportunistic Crain jumped out of the pile and used her speed to push the ball ahead. into space, and nudged it into the unprotected goal for the game’s first score.
Then, with just 15 minutes remaining in the second half, Tribe midfielder Lindsay Wilson corralled a pass from from the right side, dribbled left, and ripped a shot just inside the left post, mere fractions of an inch beyond the outstretched arms of a diving Jacobi, for William & Mary’s second and final goal of the day.
Many of William & Mary’s attack opportunities resulted in offsides calls. Much to the displeasure of a vocal group of fans in the grandstands, The Tribe was whistled for offsides nine times vs. just once by the Mountaineers.
According to LiveStats, App State controlled possession 69 percent of the time, vs. 31 percent by their hosts — but The Tribe simply did more with their opportunities, including holding a 13-10 advantage in shots.
Now 3-1 on the young season, App State will try to recover with another meeting against an ACC opponent, at Clemson on Sunday, Aug. 31. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m.
William & Mary improves to 1-2-1 with the win. They will travel to James Madison for an in-state rivalry game on Thursday, Aug. 28, with a 6 p.m. start time.
By David Rogers. BRISTOL, Tenn. (remote) — With nearly 300 cross country athletes competing in each of the middle school boys and girls division, the 2025 Run for the Hills races at South Holston Dam were primed for harrier excitement. The Watauga District Middle School team (11 girls and 10 boys) didn’t disappoint, with strong performances highlighted by Kate James Moore’s No. 2 finish in the girls race.
Liberty Bell eighth grader Cate Holden finished No. 1 (8:48.80) out of the 238 student athletes competing in the 2400-Meter Girls Division, which included 21 schools qualifying for team scoring. In addition, there were several athletes from schools with fewer than five runners entered, as well as a handful of unattached competitors.
Watauga’s Moore finished just 14 seconds behind Holden for the 1.49 miles’ distance, in 9:07.10, and more than 10 seconds ahead of No. 3 finisher, Isabella Regalado, of Jonesborough MS. A total of 12 student-athletes from eight different schools crossed the finish line in under 10 minutes.
Watauga earned a No. 6 placing in the team competition, which was won by Holden’s Liberty Bell. All but two of the Boone-based girls finished in the top half of the field, including Eden Gates (No. 32), Hannah Reule (No. 36), Liliana Resendiz (No. 39), Addie Greer (No. 57), Estalee Davenport (No. 62), Mia Kelley (No. 71), Anna Brooks Heistand (No. 97), and Abbie Cutchens (No. 105). Watauga 6th grader competed with the older runners, finishing strong at No. 142, followed by 7th grade student, Ellie Cobb at No. 229.
According to Meredith Moore, Kate James Moore’s runner-up time of 9:07.10 is the sixth fastest time in the history of the Run for the Hills event.
BOYS RACE
Indian Trail MS of Johnson City only finished No. 8 in the Boys Division team competition, but had the event’s No. 1 individual performer in 8th grader Justin Wicker (8:17.70). Out of 282 athletes competing in the Boys Division, Watauga District MS didn’t have any team members finish higher than No. 31, but all five individuals calculated in the team score finished in the top 100. That included Yates Hodges (No. 33), Ben Trivette (No. 34), John Braxton (No. 51), William Leonard (No. 60) and Olin Coley (No. 114). Jayden Perez-Zhu, Damien Johnson, and Miles Pearson also finished in the top half of the field. Tye Friedham and Max Friedham also pushed themselves to personal records for the race.
By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — Unity, said Watauga’s junior outside hitter Ashlyn Smith afterwards, was the key to the Pioneers’ two, 3-set sweeps of visiting North Iredell and Providence on Aug. 23, at Lentz Eggers Gym. The Boone volleyballers certainly seemed to be “clicking” against the Raiders in the morning tilt (25-12, 25-17, 25-12) and vs. the Panthers in the nightcap (25-11, 25-14, 25-19).
“There was so much growth today, across offense, defense and across every player. We are playing together. Unity on our team is so strong right now. Coming off these wins as well as our first loss, we have just come out, ready to win. Our unity really makes us play together,” said a smiling Smith.
Middle blocker Kora Knight had six kills in each of the matches against North Iredell and Providence, adding a couple of stuff blocks against the Raiders and a pair of digs against the Panthers.
“We have connected in multiple, different ways,” said Knight after the Providence match. “It was nice to play against a slower team to make sure we (worked) some things out. We played our strongest rotation first (to aim for an early lead). And our serving tonight was really good. We have been working on that a lot in practice.”
In the middle of the first set, with the scored tied, 8-8, Watauga finally gained separation on the scoreboard. A lot of that came with sophomore libero Carolina Childers serving, running off a string of miscues by Providence in serve receive. Apparently, good serving was contagious, because against Providence the Pioneers rattled off a whopping 13 service aces as a team, five by Childers.
“In the middle of the match,” said Watauga head coach Kim Pryor, “I asked how many aces we had. That had become a huge part of our game. Aces can be such a lift as you are going through the grind of a match. Aces can separate you from other teams. That was great to see us getting the ball to the right places and getting our serves in, honestly. You can crank out a good lead if you can get some aces.”
Pryor shared that in practice the team has been working purposefully on the serving skills.
“In general, we are trying to have better speed, velocity, on the ball. That velocity should result in more aces but the balance there is the potential for more misses. But we are getting good balance now, getting balls in with good velocity and getting them to the right spots,” said Pryor.
Since the season-opening, 3-1 loss to Hickory on Aug. 11, the Pioneers have reeled off four straight victories against historically tough opponents in West Wilkes, Southwestern Randolph, North Iredell and Providence. All have been 3-0 sweeps.
On Monday, Aug. 25, Watauga will have an opportunity to exact a measure of revenge for that one loss when they travel to Hickory for a rematch against the Red Tornadoes. They’ll follow that up with three more scheduled, non-conference matches on the road against Ashe County (Aug. 27), Forbush (Aug. 28) and at A.L. Brown (Sept. 3), before returning home for a final non-conference contest vs. Hickory Christian Academy (Sept. 4). They begin 6A/7A Northwestern Conference play on the road on Sept. 9, at Freedom (Morganton).
By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — For a season opening high school football game, there was plenty of action on both sides of the ball, Aug. 22, between host Watauga and visiting High Country rival, Ashe County — at least for the Pioneers, who ran away with this one, 56-7.
While Pioneer head coach Ryan Habich said afterwards there was plenty to “clean up” in executing play on offense, defense and special teams, he was pleased with the obvious connections between his playmakers, including Cade Keller, Evan Burroughs, Everett Gryder, Nyle Peays, Thomas Dieters and transfer Bowen Mayo.
Stats compiled by Watauga Football, subject to later corrections
All photographic images by David Rogers for High Country Sports
Se
By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — Early goals in each half proved the difference for App State vs. Davidson women’s soccer on Aug. 21 at Ted Mackorell Soccer Complex. The lightning delayed contest resulted in a 2-0 win by the Mountaineers, taking them to 3-0 on the young season for the best start to a fall campaign since 1999.
Less than four minutes into the game, graduate forward Izzy Wood gathered the ball on the right side, then pushed a pass to the center, just outside the penalty box, where teammate Ellie Garrison was sprinting up the middle. Dashing with the ball between two Davidson defenders, Garrison slipped the ball between the goalkeeper Allie Moore’s legs and it skipped skipped along the turf and into the net for the game’s first goal.
The in-state adversaries battled evenly for the rest of the half, although the Wildcats had to be turned away several times by the Mountaineers’ stout defensive play. Davidson took eight shots in the first half, compared to just three by App State. In addition, the visitors held a 6-1 advantage in corner kick opportunities. They just couldn’t capitalize on the opportunities.
App State seemed to come out of halftime with a different agenda, including doing a better job of controlling possession and manufacturing more shot opportunities. They outshot the Wildcats, 9-6, in the second half. The intensified attack produced a 5-1 advantage in corner kicks.
One of the early second-half corner kick opportunities produced the Mountaineers’ second goal. From the right corner, forward Kyli Switalski looped a high corner kick toward the front of the goal, soaring over the outstretched arms of goalkeeper Grace Stair — curling under the crossbar, just inside the far left post for the Mountaineers second goal.
The rest of the half produced few meaningful counterattacks, with disruptive defensive play from both teams.
With the win, the Mountaineers move to 3-0, the best start to a season since 1999, and they have come against Western Carolina (the top-ranked team in the Southern Conference); University of Miami (Fla.), a member of the “Power Four” Atlantic Coast Conference; and Davidson, a strong competitor in the Atlantic 10 Conference.
Before starting Sun Belt Conference play against Old Dominion on Sept. 13, in Norfolk, Va., the Mountaineers have four more non-conference matchups, beginning with William & Mary on the road, Aug. 24; at Clemson, another ACC opponent, a week later (Aug. 31); home against East Carolina (American Athletic Conference) on Sept. 4; then back on the road Sept. 7 for a test at Longwood (Farmville, Va.).
By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — It was a night of celebrations, including a birthday (senior Emma Pastusic) and 1,000 career assists (junior Lainey Gragg) — and when the last point had been scored vs. NCHSAA 2A power Southwestern Randolph, Watauga Volleyball had even more to celebrate: a three-set sweep, 25-4, 25-20, 25-22.
Warming up, Southwestern Randolph’s volleyball team looked the part of their pedigree. According to MaxPreps, the Cougars finished No. 9 in the state 2A rankings in 2024-25, No. 3 in 2023-24, No. 4 in 2022-23, and state champions in 2021-22.
All that “look” fell by the wayside in facing host Watauga on Aug. 20 in Lentz Eggers Gym. The Pioneers were “firing on all cylinders,” as head coach Kim Pryor put it afterwards, running the score up to 12-0 before Southwestern Randolph smelled the scoreboard. At 19-2, the rout was on and it hardly got any better for the visitors by the end, losing 25-4.
But the first set prelude was hardly a harbinger of things to come. The Cougars gathered themselves and made the second and third sets more in keeping with what the crowded onlookers might have expected.
In set two, Southwestern Randolph jumped out to an early lead against a lineup that included almost all of the Pioneer starters as Pryor looked to increase court time for a sprinkling of reserves. But Watauga got back in synch and rallied back to tie the score at 8-8, beginning a competitive, see-saw battle the Pioneers eventually won, 25-20.
Set 3 was more of the same, with even more of the Pioneers seeing some of the non-conference action. The early season, after all, is the time when teamwork is emphasized by Pryor and her coaching staff, regardless of who is on the court representing the Pioneers.
“Southwestern Randolph is an amazing team,” said Watauga head coach Kim Pryor afterwards. “They’ve won a state championship within the last five years. They are well coached and a gritty team. We came out firing on all cylinders. It was the best we have been in synch all year. What we were doing was clicking. We have been working on our setter-hitter connection and the girls’ serving tonight was (really good). It was such a complete team (win). The girls brought both sides of the ball together tonight.
Watauga’s senior outside hitter Emma Pastusic knew to expect a battle from Southwestern Randolph, in spite of the Pioneers’ first set dominance.
“We went five sets with them last year,” said the senior power hitter, “so we knew they are a good team. Their defense was a little iffy (tonight) but their middle blockers are really good.”
“I thought we played really well, especially in the first set,” said Pioneer sophomore libero Caroline Childers after the match. “We were functioning really well as a team. One of the areas we were focused on tonight was the setter to hitter connection. Personally, I worked on serve receive and defense, as well as those critical passes to the setter.
“Covering the areas behind the players up front, blocking, was also a focus for me tonight. Look at it like having their backs,” Childers said, with a smile.
A highlight of the evening was when there was a brief stoppage in play to recognize junior setter Lainey Gragg’s 1,000th career assist.
In the junior varsity curtain raiser for the varsity action, Watauga JV also swept in two sets, 25-22, 25-15. Standouts included setter Mia Mitchell (23 assists), outside hitters Kira Beasley (7 kills) and Adeline Tate (10 kills), and libero Ember Honeycutt (29 digs). Mitchell also added two service aces and six digs.
On Saturday, Aug. 23, Watauga hosts North Iredell (Olin, N.C.) and Providence (Charlotte, N.C.) in a Tri-Meet. First match is 10 a.m. in Lentz Eggers Gym.
By Matt Present. BOONE, N.C. — In the 79th minute of a scoreless match, Walker Bristow dribbled toward the top of the box and fed a through ball ahead to Ellie Garrison, who was taken down by a Miami defender on her way to the net. After replay review, the referees awarded Garrison a penalty kick.
The sophomore calmly stepped to the dot and buried a shot into the bottom-right corner of the net. Eleven minutes later, her Mountaineer teammates sprinted onto the field in jubilation, having posted a signature, 1-0 victory over the University of Miami Hurricanes — the Mountaineer program’s first win over a Power Five opponent since 2016.
“I’m so proud of our team, our players, just an absolute tough-as-nails performance,” head coach Aimee Haywood said after the game. “I’m over the moon about our players’ performance today.”
Four seasons ago, as Haywood embarked on her first year at App State, the Mountaineers were picked 13th out of 14 teams in the Sun Belt preseason poll. Her squad finished that season seventh in the league and followed with a program-best third-place finish in 2023. In 2024, the Mountaineers opened the campaign with a scoreless draw against NC State.
Sunday’s win was historic: the first in program history against an ACC opponent.
“This has definitely been a four-year build for us, and we’ve done it really intentionally, developing the players that we have here,” Haywood added. “I think it says a lot about the App State brand to get a team [like Miami] to come up here and play us.”
Despite being outshot for the game, the Mountaineers had the higher quality scoring opportunities. In addition to the penalty-kick goal — Garrison’s third tally of the week — junior Olivia Simon narrowly missed a goal midway through the second half when her shot was saved by Miami goalkeeper Atlee Olofson and then deflected off the far post.
Defensively, the Mountaineers were stout. Goalkeeper Anna Claire Jacobi posted her first career shutout, registering six saves, highlighted by a diving effort with 18 minutes left to keep the contest scoreless.
Center backs Sydney Snowden and Maddie Williams kept App State organized in front of Jacobi, playing all 90 minutes.
Offensively, Garrison and Simon accounted for all five App State shots.
The Mountaineers are 2-0 for the first time since 2016 and look to continue their hot start Thursday when they host Davidson in Boone. First touch is set for 6 p.m., and the match will stream on ESPN+.