PREP VOLLEYBALL: Northwood wins Hogoheegee tournament title

SALTVILLE, Va. – Don’t blame Northwood High School senior Kelsee Smith if she hits the snooze button on her alarm clock this morning. She certainly deserves the rest after putting forth a maximum effort for the third time in four days.

Smith hustled her way to 21 assists, nine kills and six blocks as Northwood survived for a 25-19, 14-25, 26-24, 15-25, 15-11 victory over Patrick Henry in the finals of the Hogoheegee District volleyball tournament on Thursday night.

The Panthers (20-3) clinched a spot in the Region C tournament and completed a week in which they won three must-win matches.

“You get really run down,” Smith said. “But if you want to go on, you just have to push through it.”

Third-seeded Northwood posted a four-game win over George Wythe on Monday, rallied for a five-game victory over Rural Retreat on Tuesday and then clinched the tourney title with the dramatic win over the Rebels.

“I think that shows how much grit they have,” said Northwood coach Jean Gillespie. “They don’t quit, they keep trying. They don’t give up, which is a good thing about this team. We don’t have the
awesome players some of these other teams have got, but we’ve got good players and they just showed their heart tonight.”

Kristin Dean (15 kills, 17 digs), Brandi Sackwitz (13 digs, seven kills four aces), Chelsey Cardwell (six kills) and Nin Snodgrass (25 digs, eight kills) were among the standouts for Northwood.

“I’m very sore, but it’s all worth it,” said Cardwell. “We came to play tonight.”

Northwood trailed 6-5 in the fifth game, before rallying behind the play of Dean, Cardwell and Smith.

“To not lose the lead,” Smith said of Northwood’s strategy in the fifth game. “We knew it was only to 15 and if we got down, we weren’t going to come back with 15 points.”

Patrick Henry (14-9) was once led again by Cadence Wilmoth (19 kills) and Kelsey Weddle (22 kills, 17 service points) as the two 6-footers controlled the net at times during the marathon match.

Megan Cleary (28 assists) and Meagan Haynes (13 digs) were also strong in defeat.

“I told the girls, they played like winners play,” said Patrick Henry coach Beth Matlock Austin. “Nothing really they did that would have cost them to lose, it was just two good teams playing each other and somebody had to win.”

It will mark the second straight season Northwood will appear in the regional tournament, but a new cast of heroes will be leading the way.

After losing several starters – including standout hitter Kendra Nutter – to graduation, Northwood simply reloaded this fall.

“Isn’t that awesome?” Gillespie said with a smile.