BY LLOYD COMBS
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
COUNCIL, Va. – It was a night of firsts for Coeburn.
First Region D playoff appearance. First Region D win.
The Blue Knights stunned Council on its home floor with a 3-0 sweep of the Cobras in Region D quarterfinal action Monday night at Council Elementary School.
Coeburn, the No. 2 seed out of the Cumberland District, swept the Black Diamond District champs, 25-17, 25-21 and 25-18 to advance to a semifinal matchup tonight at Council with defending Group A state champion Gate City.
The play of sophomores Lindsay Lawson and Kala Morgan and senior Laura McCoy close to the net was one factor for Coeburn (16-7). A nearly flawless service game was another.
Six different servers finished with seven or more points in the three-set victory for the Knights, who had just three service errors the entire match. That kind of efficiency was no accident.
“We’ve worked a lot on our serving,” Coeburn coach Brianne Casteel said. “We’ve put a lot of practice time in our serving all year.
“We came in a lot more focused tonight, and that helped. For us to have never been in the region before, and to come in here and win, it’s a big step for our program.”
Lawson and Hannah Light finished with 10 service points. McCoy notched eight, while Catherine Nixon, Megan Hall and Alana Johnson chipped in with seven apiece for the Blue Knights.
Council (18-4) struggled with its service game, and managed just two modest runs the entire match, a pair of 5-0 spurts in the second game. After winning 18 of its first 20 matches, the Cobras lost their last two, including a 3-2 loss in Saturday’s BDD finals.
“We could never get into any kind of rhthym,” Council coach Danny Rasnake said. “I don’t want to take anything away from Coeburn, but a lot of that had to do with us playing an emotional, five-set match on Saturday, and then having to turn around, with no rest and no practice, and play a regional match on Monday.
“We weren’t ready, emotionally or physically. Everyone else finished their district tournaments [last] Thursday. Our district put our girls at a disadvantage by playing on Saturday.”
Laken Hurley led the Cobras with seven kills. Kara Fuller contributed eight service points and Kelsey Geary added seven. Geary and Katie Thomas had three kills apiece for the Cobras.
Lawson had nine kills, including two on the last three points of a match-ending, 7-1 run. Morgan contributed six kills and two blocks, while McCoy finished with 18 assists.
“Our setters were on tonight,” Lawson said. “And we got some good passes to set that up.”
Lawson served out the first two sets, including a 7-0 run at the end of the second game.
It was a disappointing ending to the best season in school history for Council, which won its first-ever BDD regular season crown, and set a school record for wins. Hurley, Geary, Fuller, Thomas, Megan
O’Quinn and Samantha Leep are seniors. Most of them first played in the regionals as sophomores
“The girls are hurting, but they’ll realize soon what they accomplished,” Rasnake said. “They were 11-11 and made the regionals two years ago, went 12-9 last year, and won the district this year. They had quite a run.”
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