BONUS PHOTOS: Watauga relentless in attacking Hickory to win, 3-1

August 25, 2025

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Watauga sophomore libero Caroline Childers serves at Hickory, Aug. 25. Photographic image by David Rogers for High Country Sports

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.

BONUS PHOTOS at bottom of article. Click any image for Slide Show mode and larger images.

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.

Emma Pastusic (18) hammers a kill shot at Hickory on Aug. 25. Photographic image by David Rogers for High Country Sports

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.”

Photographic image by David Rogers for High Country Sports

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.

WATAUGA STAT LEADERS

Kills: Emma Pastusic (24), Ashlyn Smith (16), Kora Knight (5), Lainey Gragg (4), Julia Rowan (4), Addie Stough (2)
Assists: Lainey Gragg (45), Caroline Childers (4)
Digs: Caroline Childers (22), Emma Pastusic (13), Ashlyn Smith (10)
Stuff Blocks: Kora Knight (2), Lainey Gragg (2), Julia Rowan (2), Ashlyn Smith (1)
Service Aces: Emma Pastusic (5), Graycie Collins (3), Caroline Childers (2), Lainey Gragg (1)

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.