By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — Watauga senior outside hitter Caroline Farthing reached the 1,000 career kills milestone and then some on Oct. 3, pummeling South Caldwell with 22 kills at Lentz Eggers Gym as the Pioneers bested the Spartans, 3-0 (25-7. 25-5, 25-9).
Farthing now has 1,004 career kills. After the match, she first noted to High Country Sports that there have been a number of Pioneer teammates along the way helping her toward that milestone. “You don’t do it alone,” said Farthing. “You must have good setters putting the ball into good positions for you to make those shots.”
Farthing said that being a teammate first is the more important accolade a player could receive.
“Personal milestones show how hard you have worked. I came in as a freshman and played with my sister (Rebekah Farthing), who already established as the outside hitter. I played right side and I had never played right side before,” said Farthing. “So having a slow freshman year going into a pretty big sophomore year because a lot of our players had graduated, that allowed me to show how much I had grown as a player, how hard I had worked. I think I am pretty versatile and can be put in any position. I will work hard, no matter what.”
In a dominating team performance against South Caldwell on the Pioneers’ home court, several Watauga players stood out, but particularly strong service efforts by Camryn Norris and Kenzie Baldwin, each of whom reeled off strings of points, including aces, in the decisive second and third sets. Norris recorded 18 assists to go with 3 service aces and a pair of digs, while Baldwin added 11 digs, 3 assists and a service ace to her stat totals.
Furman University-bound Brooke Scheffler had another effective performance as both a setter and hitter, with 15 assists, 5 digs, and 8 kills to further demonstrate her versatility around the court.
Junior outside hitter Brooklyn Stanbery (4 kills, 1 stuff block) and senior Faith Watson (3 kills, 2 stuff blocks) and junior middle blocker/hitter Kate McCullough rounded out the Pioneers’ top offensive performances.
“(Lopsided) games like this have a really low energy, so it is hard to stay up and engaged at times,” said Farthing, “to stay excited when the match is super flat like that. Last match (in Hudson), South Caldwell came into it with more energy, so they definitely can be better when they want to. But tonight they came in with low energy, for some reason.”
Although the result was one-sided, Watauga head coach Kim Pryor described it as still fun.
“We were able to get into a groove with our offense,” Pryor said, “so it was a lot of fun on our side. Our mindset is always to play our game. South Caldwell really played well against us when we were at their place earlier in September. In fact, we started out 0-6. Tonight, our focus was playing our style and we came out clicking from the very beginning. We had a few missed serves that we fixed as the game went on, but I liked how we were clicking as a team, from both the defensive side as well as the offensive side.
“When you look at a match that you dominate,” added Pryor, “you always want to look at HOW you dominate. Was it because of what we did or because of the opponent’s play? I want our domination to always reflect what we did, attacking at all times. Tonight, we did. We mixed it up really well in running great plays. It was fun to watch.”
Now 15-1 overall, 6-0 in Northwestern Conference play, Watauga next plays Alexander Central at Lentz Eggers Gym on Oct. 5 before hosting two strong non-conference opponents on Oct. 8 in Fred T. Foard (Newton, N.C.) and T.C. Roberson (Asheville). The Pioneers close out regular season and conference play with two road contests, Hibriten (Lenoir, Oct. 10) and Freedom (Morganton, Oct. 12) before returning home to face Ashe County (Oct. 17) in preparation for the state tournament.
