Lady Bobcats postseason hopes dashed by Walters State
The Walters State volleyball team may only be three years old,
but it's growing up pretty quickly.
The Georgia Northwestern Lady Bobcats found out the hard way on
Sunday afternoon.
Facing off on the Lady Senators' home court in Morristown,
Tennessee with a berth in the NJCAA Region 10 tournament at stake,
Walters State didn't waste much time in scoring a straight sets
win, 25-11, 25-17, 25-14 to earn the region spot.
Scoring chances were few and far between for the Lady Bobcats as a
good portion of their shots fell outside the boundaries of the
court or were found by Walters State defenders.
“I think there were some nerves and emotions on our part,
being our first time in a (regional) qualifier, especially from my
sophomores,” head coach Carrie Powell said. “They knew
this was their only shot at going on and advancing (to the regional
tournament). They wanted to win so bad, but it just came down to
the fact that (Walters State) had a couple of great hitters on
their team and our defense hasn’t seen someone hit it like
that all season long. I think we were a little
shell-shocked.”
The match had post-season implications for the first time in the
history of GNTC's seven-year program, while the Lady Senators
advanced to the Region 10 finals last year before falling.
GNTC (2-5) fell behind early in the opening set, but rallied to
cut the gap to 7-6. However, that would be as close as the Lady
Bobcats would get as the home team nosed in front 12-9 before
reeling off 11 straight points to take control.
Walters State (9-2) jumped out to a 7-0 advantage in the second
set and eventually stretched out the lead to 23-11. Katlyn Bishop
came off the bench to serve GNTC back to 23-17, but the momentum
was short-lived as the Lady Senators were finally able to put the
set away.
The Lady Bobcats fell behind 5-1 in the third set, but begin to
find their rhythm as they fought back to take a 7-6 lead, their
first lead of the match.
But the lead would only be temporary as the Lady Senators clicked
off three straight points to regain the lead, 15-8. They would not
be threatened again as they polished off the match.
“That was by far the best team we’ve played this
season,” Powell explained. “They were a little more
prepared since they been in this type of setting before and we
haven’t, but now we know what to expect for next year.
“We hung with them in that second game and pushed a few
points there toward the end, but we will learn from this. There is
definitely room for growth on our end.”
Freshman Whitley Starnes powered Walters State with a dozen kills,
while fellow rookie Leslie Berquist added five. Sophomore setter
Taylor Rymer added 30 assists in the victory.
Casey Chapman had a team-best six kills for the Lady Bobcats to go
with six digs and an ace. Layna Jenkins finished with two kills,
two digs and two blocks. Sabrina Garcia had two kills and two
blocks. Rachel McGill collected an ace to go with seven
assists.
Other standouts included Holly Mount (4 blocks, 1 kill), Katlyn
Bishop (2 aces) and Mikiah Treece (8 digs).