Sunday, November 15, 2009
Chargers waste no time at Region C
Bath Country sweeps both Auburn and Radford on the way to claiming its first state tourney berth.
varsity.roanoke.com
Timesland on Twitter
BUENA VISTA -- Bath County had heard all about the dominance of the Three Rivers District in Region C volleyball.
All that talk was silenced quickly on Saturday.
Bath captured the regional volleyball title sweeping through Three Rivers foes Auburn and Radford and bringing the trophy home to Hot Springs for the first time in school history.
Now, the Chargers (23-1) will play in the state tournament for the first time ever, when they host a quarterfinal contest against the Region D runner-up John Battle. Radford, which fell to Bath in the title game 25-16, 25-18, 25-22, will travel to Region D Gate City for its quarterfinal match-up.
"We used to be intimidated by those teams like Auburn, Glenvar and Radford" said senior Carey Trimble, who led the championship game with 16 kills for the Chargers. "We played in Richmond this year against some AAA schools and won, and I knew we could do it if we wanted it bad enough. It is just amazing to make the state and I want to see how far we can go."
Bath County, which has one loss -- to Group AAA Centerville -- also beat AAA schools Fairfax and Douglas Freeman.
But it was a loss last season that motivated the Chargers in the semifinals, where they beat Auburn 25-22, 25-19, 25-17.
"Auburn beat us last year to knock us out of the tournament," Trimble said. "We wanted a little friendly payback this season."
Led by Hillary Jessee's 19 kills, the Chargers earned their state tournament berth in a complete performance that shocked their coach.
"I heard about Auburn all season and nobody really talked about Bath County," Chargers coach Dave McGee said.
"I've got number 99 [Jessee] and 23 [Trimble] that are tough to handle. The girls wanted to play Auburn all season, and I never would have expected to beat them in three games -- that is how good their program is, but we played very well today."
Auburn's season ended with a 17-5 record.
The whole day left Jessee speechless.
"I don't know what to say, it is unexplainable never would have dreamed the day would have happened this way," she said.
"We showed ourselves and everyone that we are capable. It feels amazing, I feel like we are no longer some rinky-dink school, it is an awesome feeling to be regional champs."
Radford (16-8) earned its state berth with a thrilling come-from-behind victory -- 23-25, 21-25, 25-17, 25-18, 23-21 -- over Galax (18-5) in the other semifinal of the afternoon.
In the championship game, the Bobcats got 13 kills and two blocks from Maryah Sydnor and 16 assists from Lindsey Smith, leaving coach Toni Wright-Franklin proud of her kids reaching the state tournament.
"That was their goal to get to the state tournament," she said.
"They worked hard and they wanted it. I don't even know what to say about the comeback against Galax. They really dug down and did what they had to do."
