VOLLEYBALL: Lawson Leads Rye Cove To Win

By: TriCities Staff | TriCities.com
Published: October 09, 2009

BY ANTHONY STEVENS
Sports Correspondent
CASTLEWOOD, Va. – The three-game sweep of Castlewood by Rye Cove was anticlimactic considering the performance of Lady Eagles senior Charity Lawson.

Lawson put her name in the record book at tradition-rich Rye Cove High School by serving 21 consecutive points to lead the Eagles to the win.

“Before the game, I was talking to Coach [Greg] Gilliam and asked him why I couldn’t get my serves in,” Lawson said. “The next thing I know I had 21 in. I guess I just got lucky. I served well at the beginning of the year but the last couple of games I hadn’t been myself, but I got on a roll tonight.”

Lawson toed the service line at the beginning of the second game and didn’t let up as Rye Cove raced out to a 21-0 lead. She included six aces in the run.

“It was astounding,” Gilliam said. “I don’t know what happened. She just did everything right during that stretch. She didn’t let up, most of them were hit hard and had some spin on them. It was amazing. I’ve never seen that before and probably never will again.”

Lawson finished the match with 27 points, including nine aces. She received a lot of help up front from hitter Leah Miller, who pounded 15 kills. Jasmine Carter delivered 24 assists and was also strong with her serve, adding 15 points. Paige Tester also played well at the net, although she has been slowed by an ankle injury.

“Miller was on tonight,” Gilliam said. “Miller has really picked it up for us since Paige has been playing with the gimpy ankle.”

Rye Cove remained in the driver’s seat of the Cumberland District volleyball race as the only undefeated team in the district . The Eagles who have dominated the district, winning the title every year since 1998.

Rye Cove raced out to a 6-1 lead in the first game. The Blue Devils received kills from Ali Ring and Haley Gilbert to cut the lead to 8-7 but that was as close as they could get.

Behind the strong serving of Tester and the play up front by Miller the Eagles pulled away for an impressive 25-10 win.

Led by Lawson, they were even more dominating winning the second game 25-3.

The match was never tied and Castlewood never had a lead until the third game.

Again Rye Cove started quickly going on a 6-0 run to start. Castlewood slowly battled back and tied the score at 10. Ring followed with a kill to give the Blue Devils their first lead in
the match at 11-10. It was back and forth from that point. It was tied four times down the stretch and the Eagles never led by more than four points but swept the match with a 25-21 win.

“The final game, Castlewood showed the kind of team they have,” Gilliam said. “They are athletic, scrappy and make a lot of good plays. I give Castlewood a lot of credit, they didn’t give up. They could have easily folded but they kept fighting back.”

Gilbert led the Blue Devils with nine kills. Ring added five kills and two blocks.

Castlewood (9-7, 1-3) will travel to Twin Springs on Tuesday. Rye Cove (11-5, 4-0) will be on the road to Powell Valley also on Tuesday.