The part of a volleyball court with the most vicious action is right around the net.
Tuesday night in the Cave Spring gym, the Carroll County six found out the Lady Knights owned that quadrant of real estate.
Powering their way from the outset, Cave Spring ran away with a fast-paced 25-7; 25-17; 25-16 River Ridge District win over the visitors from Hillsville.
It continued what Cave Spring head coach Tamalyn Tanis has recently described as a tweaking of the Knights’ team.
“We tried some fun stuff tonight,” Tanis said after her visibly more relaxed squad played with confidence. “We tried some different looks and changed our play in the middle.”
One player who stood out with the adjustments was senior Lauren Slough, who admittedly had her career-best as a hitter.
“I was on the right side and moved to the middle tonight,” Slough noted afterward. “I had my career high with hits. I think we played much better as a team and that’s what we need heading into the final part of the season.”
Slough also had 4 blocks at the net to provide additional punch to a Cave Spring front line already anchored by seniors Piper Roe and Shannon Holsinger. Roe, who has committed to play at Louisville, led Cave Spring in kills with 11. Roe recently claimed the VHSL career record for blocks, surpassing the old mark of 376 that had stood for over 20 years.
Carroll County scored the first point Tuesday night before Cave Spring went on a slam-fest. The Knights rolled out to leads of 14-4 and 22-5 before senior libero Alayna Foutz served up the set-winner at 25-7.
The Cavaliers led early in the second set when service runs by Roe and senior Meagan Harrison helped push the Knights to a commanding 19-8 lead. Carroll County rallied to get within six points, but Cave Spring got the set-clincher on a net violation by the Cavs.
Carroll County trailed 12-10 in the third set when Cave Spring rode Holsinger’s service prowess for a 21-12 Knight advantage. Cave Spring, which juggled its libero to Christy Goldsmith to start the third set, finished the deal with a Roe kill for the 25-16 match-clincher.
Meagan Harrison finished with 30 assists as the Cave Spring setter.
Senior Madison Hull and junior Jena Alley paced Carroll County with 3 kills apiece.
Bill Turner