Cartersville volleyball sweeps opening night matches
The Cartersville High School volleyball team opened its 2017 campaign Thursday evening with a pair of wins in matches at Rome High School.
The Lady Canes defeated Rome 25-9, 25-18 and then downed Unity Christian School 25-14, 25-19 for a pair of sweeps.
In the opening win over Rome, Lauren Wenzell (.300 hitting percentage) and Nedu Evans (.350 hitting percentage) each had five kills, Catie Heilman (.290 hitting percentage) finished with four. Grace Hunter contributed 15 assists for the Hurricanes and Bekah Stevens had 11.
Jayla Delgado and Addie Smith each totaled seven digs. Hunter added with five aces and Heilman four.
“I felt like we came out really strong in the first set,” commented Lady Canes’ coach Dutch Cothran. “We served tough and were able to pull away early. Our ball control could've been better, but it was enough to help us get the win. The second set, Rome played better, and we made some of those early season mistakes that teams tend to make. Coaches hate to see those, but we all know they are bound to happen. I loved our energy and tenacity. There's plenty of room for improvement of course, but it was a nice start to our season.”
In Cartersville’s second match of the night, Evans (.630 hitting percentage) had seven kills to lead the way. Hunter and Stevens added 14 and 11 assists, respectively. Addie Smith and Jayla Delgado finished with eight digs each. Hunter totaled seven digs and five aces. Smith added three aces.
Cothran reflected on his team’s opening night sweep.
“One of my goals tonight was to get some playing time for some of our players who are playing varsity for the first time. We were able to do that against Unity. We got some contributions from Emily Petty, Cristina Cruz, London Shaw, and Bella Corrigan. It was nice to be able to rest some players going into this weekend. We'll need everyone firing on all cylinders in the Sequoyah Tournament.”
Cartersville (2-0) opens the Sequoyah Tournament Friday against South Forsyth and Northside-Columbus with matches at Creekview High School in Canton at 6pm and 8pm.
PHOTO: Courtesy Nancy Brant / Cartersville Lady Canes Volleyball.
