varsity.roanoke.com

INDEPENDENCE -- A 30-minute drive to the west of Grayson County High School looms Mount Rogers, the highest point in the commonwealth.

Thursday, in the "Rooftop of Virginia," the Blue Devils found themselves on top of the world.

Grayson County overcame a fierce Glenvar comeback in the Region C championship match and held on in the fifth game to take a 26-24, 25-22, 18-25, 21-25, 15-13 win over the defending region and Group A champions at Grayson County Middle School.

Having surrendered a two-game lead, Grayson County (24-1) took a quick 3-0 lead in the fifth and did not trail again in winning its first region crown.

"We talked about getting ahead, right off the bat," Grayson County coach Charles Campbell said of his team's huddle after the fourth game. "If you get behind more than one or two points to Glenvar, they're going to put you away."

It was Mikaela Anders who put things away down the stretch.

"Annie [Conlkin] just went with the hot hitter," Campbell said of his setter, who had 60 assists. "Annie made the decisions. We got the passes up so we could go to Mikaela. Annie put it up there and Mikaela put it away."

Anders had seven of her 19 kills in the final game, including match point.

"We got really good sets that round, and I just put them down," said Anders, who topped 1,100 career kills during the match.

The Highlanders (23-2) recovered after dropping the first two games. In the midst of turning the match around in the third, Glenvar was greatly aided when Grayson was penalized for serving out of rotation.

Taking away points accumulated during the illegal serve and giving Glenvar a point for a side-out, a 14-12 lead turned into a 15-8 advantage, and the Highlanders suddenly had momentum fully on their side.

That carried over to the fourth, where Glenvar pulled away from a 21-21 tie.

"After the second game, we talked about it and said we weren't going to lose now," Glenvar libero Meredith Buckley said. "We came all the way up here and we have experience, and we've already had a couple of games where we had to go to five. We knew we could do it."

Glenvar had to work hard after the Devils took a 2-0 lead. Grayson middle hitter Megan Funk dominated the net at times, registering many of her 24 kills as Grayson jumped to the early lead.

"We outscored them by two points," said Glenvar coach Mark Rohrback, who got 32 kills and 22 digs from Liz Trinchere plus 60 assists from Ashley Owen. "It's a matter of who makes the plays at the right time, and that's what they did tonight. There was some unbelievable defense played by both teams."

The Blue Devils host the Region D runner-up Tuesday in Group A quarterfinal play.

Glenvar will travel to the Region D champion.

"They're a super team, great players, great kids," Campbell said of the Highlanders.

"I love those guys. We've played them about nine times in the past four years. They've gotten the upper hand most of the time, and I have all the respect in the world for them."