Busy Week For UCHS Volleyball
Curtis Carden
ccarden@erwinrecord.net
The volleyball season is back for UCHS.
Coach Junia Gindlesperger’s squad is back at the grind for the 2011 campaign after experiencing a busy opening week for her Lady Devils’ squad.
“It’s been a busy week for us,” Gindlesperger said, “We’ve had a good competition throughout the week and the girls have responded well.”
The girls opened up their season on Monday, Aug. 22., at the Devils Den in Erwin against a senior loaded Daniel Boone, but would falling in a close match-up against the Trailblazers by the scores of 16-25, 24-26 and 21-25.
Mercedes Wright would come up big for the team during the night, coming away with 31 digs during the night. Sophomore Brooke Strother would have an impressive performance on Monday, with 21 digs and coming up with two kills and one assist.
Grayson Goddard would follow along with her sophomore counterpart on the team, coming up big with 16 digs.
Seniors would lead them team with kills, as Emmie Thompson would get six and Alex Lamaa would follow with four of her own. Fellow senior, Sarah Lingerfelt, contributed with her other counterparts by hitting 17 digs, one kill and having six assists.
Juniors Bethany Gibson and Carrie Whitson brought in successful performances, with Gibson hitting 18 digs with 3 aces and Whitson showing the defense with two blocks and three kills during the night.
The girls would go back to the drawing board on Tuesday, Aug. 23., with Chuckey-Doak coming to Erwin for the next matchup of the night.
The Black Knights would come away with the win by the scores of 25-14, 25-21, 25-13.
Wright would come away leading the dig category with 20 on Tuesday. Lingerfelt hit nine digs and tallied in one assist. Gibson raked in four digs and one assist of her own. Whitson would have a kill with the Lamaa and Thompson rounding out the rest of the scoring efforts, in order, of having five digs and one kill and two digs and one assist.
The varsity efforts would be wrapped up on Saturday, Aug. 27, by participating in the Elizabethton Cyclone Invitational, which was held at the high school in Elizabethton and T.A. Dugger Middle School.
Following successful outings against David Crockett and home team, Elizabethton, the girls would advance on to participate in the gold division for the winners of pool play.
The Lady Devils would draw the Lady Hilltoppers of Science Hill and the girls of Johnson City would be just to much for UCHS.
“It was a great experience for us,” Gindlesperger stated about the Cyclone Invitational, “We got a chance to see and play against talented teams and it helps us to see where we stack with the teams around the area. The girls showed their heart in the second game against Elizabethton, and they just did a great job of battling during the tournament.”
The Devils will be back to another busy week starting off by traveling on the road to face the South Greene Devils on Monday, Aug. 29.
The Lady Devils will open up conference play on Tuesday, Aug. 30, by traveling to Elizabethton to face the Lady Cyclones. The Three Rivers will be calling the girls again on Thursday, Sept. 1, as the Lady Longhorns will be traveling to the Devils Den in Erwin.
Unicoi will be traveling to Chuckey-Doak on Wednesday, Aug. 31, with only JV and Varsity playing, and gametime begining at 3:30.
For the rest of the week, freshmen games are scheduled to begin at 4:30, with junior varsity at 5:30 and varsity begining at 6:30.
The junior varsity were in action back on Saturday, Aug. 20, with the head coach stating the girls are starting to impress.
“Our JV girls did great in the PlayDay at Science Hill,” Gindlesperger said, “They came along and just showed what they could do.”
