PREP VOLLEYBALL: Rye Cove rolls to CD title

BY ANTHONY STEVENS
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
NICKELSVILLE, Va. – The tradition continues at Rye Cove. The Eagles have won the Cumberland District tournament title every year since 1998. They will need to clear more space in the trophy case for the 2009 championship. Rye Cove (17-5) defeated Coeburn 3-1 in the finals held at Twin Springs High School on Thursday. It was the 12th straight title for Rye Cove.

“It puts a lot of pressure on us,” said the Eagles’ Leah Miller. “We don’t want to break that tradition. We just want to play our best and win every district game, but it is a lot of pressure.”

Rye Cove had complete control of the first two games. Coeburn never held the lead at anytime, as the Eagles won the first set 25-16 and the second set 25-15. Miller received a lot of help up front from
Paige Tester, Charity Lawson and Hillary Grizzle. Jasmine Carter had several pinpoint sets to the frontline. It looked like it would be a quick match for the Eagles, but Coeburn had other ideas.

“I wasn’t surprised; they have a really good team,” Miller said. “Coeburn hustled and played well. We made some bad passes and had some problems in the third game, but we were able to pull it out in the fourth.”

The Blue Knights tied the third game four times early, but they still couldn’t get over the hump. They finally took their first lead in the match at 11-10. They took the lead for good at 17-16 on a kill by
Lindsay Lawson. Then Kala Morgan had three kills down the stretch and Coeburn won 25-21.

“I believe we came out and played a little intimidated at first,” Coeburn coach Brianne Casteel said. “Once we relaxed and settled down, we played much better.
“I have three sophomores, a freshman, and two seniors on the floor the whole time. We’re a fairly young team, so I think we do a really good job for not having as much experience as some other teams.”

The Knights kept it exciting in the fourth game. Lawson had five consecutive points, including a couple of aces, as the Eagles jumped out to a 5-0 advantage. But Coeburn battled back, eventually tying it at 11-11. The Blue Knights took the lead a couple of times, but they could never get up by more than two points.

Rye Cove went up 22-21 and then Tester and Lawson had back-to-back kills for a three-point comfort margin. The Eagles won the fourth game 25-22 to take the match.

Miller filled the stat sheet for Rye Cove. She finished with 14 kills, five blocks, 16 digs and 13 service points. Carter dished out 29 assists. Charity Lawson (10 kills, 25 digs, 15 service points), Tester (9 kills, 3 blocks, 15 digs) and Grizzle (9 kills) all had an outstanding match.

Lindsay Lawson led the Knights with 15 kills and 33 digs. Morgan added 12 kills and Natasha Burke was in double digits with 10 kills.

The Region D volleyball tournament begins on Monday at satellite sites. Coeburn will travel to Council and Rye Cove will entertain Honaker.

“We just need to carry over how we played in this tournament to Monday night,” said Rye Cove coach Greg Gilliam. “We just hope to keep the momentum and get a big win at home on Monday.”