Lindsey Burke Guides Gate City To Clinch Mountain District Volleyball Title

BY ALLEN GREGORY
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER

GATE CITY, Va. – Lindsey Burke is regarded as the sparkplug of the Gate City volleyball team.

The versatile senior provided a big spark in Thursday’s Clinch Mountain District tournament championship, and it came at the perfect time for Blue Devils fans.
After John Battle built a 6-3 game in the second game, Burke skimmed two left-handed jump-serves over the net for aces.

“John Battle had the momentum, and I knew we needed something to get us back up,” Burke said. “Volleyball is all about momentum.”

Burke finished with eight digs and six kills as GC continued its mastery of CMD foes with 25-16, 25-19, 25-12 win.
Gate City coach Amy Reed was not surprised that Burke emerged as the hero.

“Lindsey is one of a kind,” Reed said. “She controls our serve-receive game, and she’s always there to contribute digs, blocks, sets and attacks. Lindsey is the whole package.”

Senior Kelsey Griffitts led Battle with 10 kills and seven digs, while Ashley Bryant (6 kills, 10 digs) and Brittni Altman (14 assists, 11 digs, two blocks) also played well for the Trojans.

Battle coach Gary Griffitts was not pleased the execution by his team.

“We just didn’t show up, that’s the bottom line,” Griffitts said. “We’ve got a lot better team that what we showed, but you have to come out ready. We would make a bad pass or something, then get frustrated.”

The Region D tournament begins Monday, with Gate City (19-1) hosting Powell Valley and John Battle (18-3) at Lonesome Pine District regular season champion J. I. Burton.

Griffitts offered praise for the versatile Burke, who continually came up with key points to quell potential Battle rallies.

“I’ve watched Lindsey for years, and she’s probably is one of the strongest players in the state,” Griffitts said. “She moves well and has a lot of skills.”

Juniors Callie Sloop (40 assists, seven digs) and Ashton Dougherty (13 kills) and freshman Erica Fugate (10 kills) were the other leaders for Gate City. Fugate is the daughter of former GC basketball star Eric Fugate.

“We were a little rattled and kind of lost focus from a couple calls in the second game, but we’ve got to move on and play our game,” Reed said.

GC focused on countering the athletic Griffitts during practice for Thursday’s match.

“We knew we were going to meet [John Battle] again, and our girls played really good defense and did exactly what they were supposed to,” Reed said.

The five-foot-four Burke, a four-year starter, played a key role in last season’s state title run. She credits her well-rounded game to the patient tutelage of Reed and off-season play with a club volleyball team based in Gate City.

“Coach Reed does a good job of teaching all the positions, and I’ve worked on developing my all-around game,” Burke said.

Burke often confounds opponents with her unique jump serve.

“I watched other players do jump serves and I always wanted to try it,” said Burke, who is considering playing volleyball at King College. “I practiced hard, then started doing the jump serve in games last year.”

Even the most experienced volleyball player would be hard-pressed to record back-to-back aces off the top of the net, however.

“That was luck,” said Burke, referring to her momentum-changing sequence Thursday. “I’ve never had two balls go over like that.”

Griffitts hopes his team learned a lesson from Thursday’s defeat.

“Gate City has a fast-paced offense, and they bring the ball right back at you,” Griffitts said. “That’s the reason they’ve won state so many years. You’ve got to be ready.”
Gate City (16-3) stopped John Battle, 25-7, 26-28, 15-7 for the junior varsity title.

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