Gate City and John Battle Advance In Clinch Mountain District Volleyball

BY ALLEN GREGORY
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER

GATE CITY, Va. – The stars and storylines were familiar in the Clinch Mountain District volleyball semifinals.

John Battle senior left-hander Kelsey Griffitts soared above the net for jaw-popping skills, while defending Group A state champion Gate City used depth and a cohesive offense to cruise past another foe. It equaled a rematch between Gate City and John Battle in Thursday’s CMD finals at 7:30 p.m.

GC swept the Trojans in a pair of regular season matches. The Blue Devils have not dropped a district match since 1998, a run that includes stints in various districts.
“Gate City is good, and we’ve had trouble with them,” John Battle coach Gary Griffitts said. “A lot of that is due to the intimidation factor. We can compete with Gate City, but we have to put together a complete game.”

The CMD powers cruised to routine wins Wednesday. Battle (18-2) stopped third seed Lee by a 25-10, 25-13, 25-16 margin. GC stopped Virginia High, 25-12, 25-14, 25-8.

Working in unison with clever setter junior setter Brittni Altmann, Griffitts delivered 22 kills in the opening match. Altmann collected 35 assists, six digs and five kills, while Ashley Bryant (seven kills, nine digs) and Abbey Davis (six kills, eight digs) also played well for Battle. Griffitts is the lone senior for the Trojans

“Kelsey played good enough, and our passing wasn’t terrible,” Gary Griffitts said. “We’ve got several girls that can hit the ball. We’ve just got to take care of the little things first.”

Morgan Province paced Lee (11-10) with eight kills, while Sydney Owens added 15 assists. The General played without regular setter Rachel Lawson due to an ankle injury.

Virginia High (6-16) was coming off an emotional first round victory over Lebanon, but the Bearcats could not counter the power of Gate City. VHS, which played nearly the entire season without injured senior Crystal Bullock, started just one senior Wednesday.

“We knew this was going to be a little bit of a down year because we’ve lost 12 seniors over the past two years, but we’ve got a lot of talent in our underclassmen,” VHS coach Holley Rolen said. “I was just a little disappointed in this match because I feel like we didn’t give our best effort.
“Gate City has a really quick offense, but we were slow on defense and didn’t create enough opportunities on offense.”

Leaders for VHS included junior Nikki Nelms (eights digs), junior Paige Adkins (11 digs) and senior Abby Curcio with four kills.

Senior leaper Brittany Simpson led GC with 11 kills, while multi-talented senior Lindsey Burke (nine kills, eight aces) and freshman Santana Bishop (10 kills) were also impressive.

“I was pleased with the way we played overall, but we have to play that much faster Thursday against Battle,” said GC coach Amy Reed, who has led the Blue Devils to three state titles. “We’ve got to keep learning and growing as a team.”

Reed feels her team is prepared for the rematch against John Battle.

“We’ve seen John Battle and we know what they do,” Reed said. “We’ve got to be ready and take care of business.”

Gate City’s lone loss this season came against Sullivan Central.

The Region D tournament begins Monday at satellite sites, with the semifinals and finals set for Council.

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