CVMS, Rossville battle in county court clash
Two longstanding rivals met on the volleyball court in Flintstone Thursday night as Chattanooga Valley played host to Rossville. And it was a battle to the end — twice. Long rallies were the order of the night, but it the end, it was the Lady Eagles sweeping both the varsity and JV matches in three sets against a scrappy bunch of Lady Bulldogs.
Chattanooga Valley won the opening set in the varsity match, 25-14, but Rossville would answer in the second set. The Blue-and-White jumped out to a 15-9 lead, only to see CVMS fight back to cut the gap down to a 17-15.
But Rossville would get back on serve as Thanya Rodriguez went back to the service line. She would serve out the final seven points to give her team a 25-16 win and send the match to a third set.
The tiebreaking set would be even at 7-7 when the Lady Eagles reeled off three unanswered points and forced Rossville to call a timeout. But coming out of the break, CVMS would score five of the next six points, including three aces in a row by Maddie York, to forge a 15-8 lead.
It was 16-9 when Destiny Millican went back to serve for the Lady Bulldogs. Two aces and one nice Lynnsey Strickland dig later, Rossville had reeled off five consecutive points and forced the Lady Eagles to call a time-out of their own with their lead having been shrunk to 16-14.
But Millican’s next serve went long when play resumed and Annabel Hill would counter with four straight points for the Valley, including a clutch pair of aces, to boost the advantage back to six points and give the Lady Eagles control of the match for good as they went on to clinch the match with a 25-19 win in the final set.
York finished with 10 aces and one kill on the night, while Hill had a kill to go with her two aces. Sara Taylor finished with three aces for CVMS. Bailey Fowler added two digs and a kill, while Sydney Davis had one dig and one ace.
Chattanooga Valley began the night with a nail-biting, three-set win in the JV match. Rossville won the opening set, 25-19, but the Lady Eagles rebounded for a 25-18 win to force a third-set tiebreaker, won by the home team, 15-12.
Asia Silmon had three aces for the Maroon-and-White, followed by Mecca Spears with two and Kaydence Johnson and Annabelle Casto with one each.
Additional individual statistics for Rossville were not available for either match.
Chattanooga Valley will play host to LaFayette on Tuesday, while Rossville will to Heritage that same day. Two nights later, Lakeview will make a trip to the Valley, while Rossville will be back at home against Ringgold.