By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — For high school volleyball enthusiasts, it doesn’t get much better than the edge-of-your-seat, white knuckle, 5-set thrill-a-minute contest between Watauga and Ashe County on Sept. 27 in Lentz Eggers Gym. The Pioneers survived a vigorous Huskies challenge, 3-2 (19-25, 25-18, 25-17, 25-27, 15-9).
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After surrendering a four-point lead — twice — and eventually falling to Ashe County in the first set, Watauga struck back to win the next two frames before the Huskies forced an overtime win in the fourth stanza. Then, the Pioneers seemed to regain control of things in the No. 5 tiebreaker.
In almost every athletic endeavor, especially team sports, good defense often turns into good offense — and at times spectacular defensive efforts by the Pioneers were the difference makers in this High Country rivalry matchup. Watauga senior outside hitter Brooklyn Stanbery, herself an accomplished power hitter, told High Country Sports after the match the team knew they had their work cut out for them in countering the Huskies’ outside hitter, Paige Overcash.
“Our coaches worked with us a lot the last couple of days on blocking,” said Stanbery, “because we know what Overcash can do. Tonight, that work paid off.”
Indeed it did. Sophomore middle hitter Kora Knight recorded an astonishing 10 stuff blocks, but she was not alone in defending at the net. Senior middle hitters Kate McCullough and Sara Marlowe added six and five stuff blocks, respectively, while junior middle hitter Grace Twillery contributed four. Outside hitters Stanbery and sophomore Emma Pastusic each added two stuff blocks to round out how the Pioneers countered the Husky attack at the net.
Not everything was stopped at the net, however. Many of Overcash & Co.’s power kill shots got through the front line defense, with many kept in play by digs in the back row. Senior libero Evie Robbins recorded close to a single game record with 39 digs, but she was far from alone on this day with Stanbery (15 digs), Madi Combs (13), Pastusic (8), Marlowe (8), Madi Combs (7), Lainey Gragg (7), Olivia Kop (5), Twillery (3), Kasey Gragg (2), and McCullough (1) also contributing digs during their respective turns in the back row.
An important part of the “dig” is where the defender is able to place the ball while keeping it in play. Several of the Pioneers, especially Robbins and Combs, were adept at this skill, the importance of which was noted by head coach Kim Pryor after the match.
“When you have a power hitter like Overcash, oftentimes when those kill shots are dug out to keep the ball alive the hitter’s teammates have relaxed, thinking the point is over with the kill shot, that we are not going to get the ball,” said Pryor. “When our back row libero or defensive specialist can get very usable ball in play and a setter can move the ball back across the court for our own outside hittler, the impact can be very effective because the other team’s defenders may have shifted out of position or are slower in getting to where they need to be.”
On the attacking side of things, Watauga’s Combs had 32 assists, while Lainey Gragg had 19 assists. Those sets allowed Stanbery to ring up 27 kills, Pastusic 26 kills.
Ashe County was also caught off balance by 16 service aces by four Pioneers across the five sets, including Combs (7 service aces), Lainey Gragg (5) Stanbery (2) and Marlowe (2).
“This was exactly what we expected,” noted Pryor after the match. “Ashe County was strong last year and we expected them to be strong again. I knew it would be a fight. You hope to have games like this throughout your season. Every time, it makes you better. The cool thing is having player after player stepping into roles that (we, as coaches) are asking them to do and they get the job done.
“Paige Overcash is an amazing player,” said Pryor, “and, really, both sides of their offense are good. Both of these teams play relentless defense and it just makes it that much more fun. Our blocks came on, especially, in the middle and toward the end of the match.”
Pryor was also appreciative of the support shown on this night for high school women’s volleyball.
“We have the best fans,” Pryor said, “and we have a great friendly rivalry with Ashe County. To fill our gym like this for volleyball, it is really amazing.”
The Pioneers (13-2 overall, 5-0 NWC) will continue Northwestern Conference play at South Caldwell on Oct. 2. Ashe County (12-3, 4-1) will look to stay in contention for a conference championship on the same day, hosting Alexander Central (3-12, 2-3). The Pioneers and Huskies will meet again on Oct. 16, the last match of the regular season.
For the Sept. 27 contest, Lentz Eggers Gym was nearly full, which added to the energy in the building.
The junior varsity contest was similarly hotly contested, with the Pioneers recording a close, 2-0 win (26-24, 25-23). Team leaders included Gracyn Blanton, with 13 kills; Ava Zaragoza and Lilli Combs with 10 and 9 assists, respectively; and Bella Wade, with 10 digs.
The Watauga Blue JV team also won, 2-0, to complete the Pioneer sweep.
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