BY ANTHONY STEVENS
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
CLINCHPORT, Va. – The drought continues for Honaker. Although they are a long time participant in the Region D volleyball playoffs, the Tigers haven’t experienced much success this season. That held true again on Monday in the Region D quarterfinals. Honaker (8-15) was blitzed by Rye Cove 3-0.
The match only lasted 50 minutes, with Rye Cove winning 25-4, 25-14, 25-14. The strong service game of senior Charity Lawson got the Eagles out of the gate quickly. Lawson, who reeled off 21
consecutive points against Castlewood earlier this season, was outstanding again. She started the match with 15 straight points against Honaker. She followed that by starting the third game with 10 consecutive points.
“I don’t know what it is, but other teams have a real hard time handling her,” said Rye Cove coach Greg Gilliam. “She was just awesome with her serve.”
Lawson finished the match with 26 points, including eight aces. She also contributed at the net with six kills, including a couple laser shots.
“I had a good night; I was on fire,” commented Lawson. “I was just concentrating on getting my serve in and placing them in good spots.
“We just had a good match. We moved our feet, we talked and Leah Miller did an excellent job on the front row. We played with a lot of heart, we hustled, and hopefully tomorrow we can play even better.”
In the match, the Eagles totaled 15 aces. Miller led the front line with eight kills and two blocks. Hillary Grizzle and Paige Tester contributed four kills each. Jasmine Carter dished out 19 assists.
“When the ball did come to our side, I liked the way we put it away on offense,” Gilliam said. “We had some good sets. Honaker had some good blockers up there and we hit around them with good placement.”
Honaker could not overcome the quick start by Rye Cove (18-5). The Tigers never led in the match and it was never tied. The Eagles controlled play from start to finish.
“We just came out flat,” said Honaker coach Greg Mullins. “I called a couple of timeouts and made some substitutions hoping to change the momentum and get something we could work with. We could never get things straightened out. We just kind of got flustered and couldn’t get out of it.”
The good serves by Rye Cove also neutralized Honaker’s big hitters, Rachel Artrip and Emily Musick. Artrip finished with seven kills and one block. Nicole Roman totaled seven assists. The Tigers struggled to get the ball up front the entire match.
Rye Cove advances to the semifinals tonight at Council Elementary School to face John Battle.
“We need to keep this up,” Gilliam said. “I would like to serve like this tomorrow. This time of year, if your serve is working and you don’t have to earn every point, it’s really nice. I hope we can keep this up.”
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