Ashland Volleyball Champs
Win First Title in 13 Years
James Collier
Ashland Beacon
16th REGION VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT
CHAMPIONSHIP
ASHLAND 3 RACELAND 0
One night after having to battle through a five-set match to get by Russell in the semifinals, Ashland was not in a mood to waste time when they matched up with Raceland in the championship.
Ashland jumped all over Raceland in the first frame with a 25-12 win and rolled to their first championship since 2011 in straight sets over the Rams at Morgan County High School. Mena Pittman, Sadie Chaffins and Olivia Wiley each tallied 11 kills in the winning effort. Annie Bradshaw and Peyton Mackie led the Rams with six each.
Ashland advances to the State Tournament with Region 14 champion Knott County Central its next opponent in the opening round Monday night.
Raceland ends the season at 24-13.
SEMIFINALS
RACELAND 3 ROWAN COUNTY 0
Raceland hammered Rowan County out of the gate with a 25-7 first set win and never looked back as the Rams moved onto the championship game for the second time in three years with a 3-0 win over the Vikings.
Allayson Rigsby led the Rams with 14 kills and Kiya Noble added 11. Raceland tallied 13 aces led by Kody Haddix’s five. Peyton Mackie kicked in four.
With the win, Raceland coach Katee Neltner picked up her 200th career win.
ASHLAND 3 RUSSELL 2
Ashland was on life support after falling behind 2-1 in the match against Russell. Even more, Russell led 12-10 in the fifth and final set. But the Kittens would not be turned away as they rolled off a 5-1 run to close the contest and get a 3-2 win over the Red Devils. Olivia Wiley had 20 kills for Ashland. Sadie Chaffins put down 17. Mena Pittman added 16.
Jaycee Hall led Russell with 16 kills. Carmin Corey had 13. Kennedy Darnell added 12.
Russell closes the season at 16-17.
OPENING ROUND
RACELAND 3 BOYD COUNTY 0
Raceland barely got out of the starting blocks by the time Boyd County was ready to make a surge toward the finish line. Down 17-7 in the opening frame, Raceland overcame the slow start to storm back for a 31-29 Set 1 win which led to a sweep over the Lions to take down the three-time defending region champs.
Rigbsy had 23 kills in the winning effort. Noble added six. Peyton Jones led the Lions with eight kills.
Boyd County closed the season at 18-19 for their first losing season since 2016.
RUSSELL 3 EAST CARTER 0
Russell blitzed East Carter and quickly advanced to the semifinals with straight sets win over the Raiders.
Hall led the Devils with 12 kills. Darnell had 11. Corey finished with nine.
ASHLAND 3 FLEMING COUNTY 0
Ashland flexed its muscle on Fleming County in a straight sets win while not allowing the Panthers to score more than nine points in a set (25-8, 25-7, 25-9).
Pittman led the Kittens with eight kills. Wiley had seven. Ashland finished with 13 aces with Anniston Mertz and Grace Clark collecting four each.
Comments