Volleyball Opens Season With Wins Over LFO, Gordon Central
By EDDY GIFFORD
Sports Writer
Photo by Eddy Gifford – The Lady Wolverines’ Caroline Bell spikes the ball against Lakeview Ft. Oglethorpe last week as the volleyball season got underway. Dade County opened the season with a pair of wins, defeating Gordon Central and LFO. The team travels to LaFayette for a Thursday afternoon match.
The Dade County High School Lady Wolverine volleyball team opened the 2023 season at home on Tuesday, Aug. 8, when they hosted Gordon Central and Lakeview Ft. Oglethorpe.
Dade County started the season off with a bang, defeating Gordon Central in two sets, 25-10 and 25-13, to take the match 2-0.
Anna Ballard led the Lady Wolverines with 2 aces, 1 dig, and 5 assists. Brooklyn Konrad also had a big impact with 4 aces, 4 kills, and 2 assists. Caroline Bell had 5 aces, 5 kills, and 1 assist while Alabama McPhetridge had 1 ace, 3 digs, 1 kill, and 1 assist.
Dade County then faced Lakeview Ft. Oglethorpe but got off to a slow start and dropped the first set 15-25. In the second set, the team got it together and took a hard-fought set 25-18 setting up the tie–breaker.
The Lady Wolverines jumped out to an early lead and held on to take the set 15-10 and the match 2-1 for their second win of the season.
Brianna Marlowe led DCHS with 6 aces, 1 dig, and 3 kills while Konrad had 5 kills, 1 dig, and 1 assist. Abby Guffey had 3 digs, 2 assists, and 1 kill while Anna Ballard had a really big match with 3 aces, 9 digs, 2 kills, and 7 assists.
On Thursday, the Lady Wolverines traveled to Oakwood Christian Academy and faced Calhoun in the first of two matches.
The Lady Yellow Jackets jumped on the Lady Wolverines early in the first set and came away with a big 24-13 win. In the second set, Dade settled down and played much better but dropped the set 25-19 and the match 2-0.
Ballard led the way for the Lady Wolverines with 2 digs, 3 kills, and 6 assists. Azairah Reed had 3 digs, 1 kill, and 3 assists while Bell had 5 kills and Konrad had 5 kills and 1 dig.
Next up for the Lady Wolverines was Oakwood Christian Academy. Dade fought hard but dropped both sets, 25-19 and 25-23 to claim the match 2-0.
Reed led the way with 2 aces, 3 digs, 1 kill, and 1 assist. Ballard had 3 digs, 1 kill, and 5 assists while Isabella Blake had 2 aces, 2 digs, 1 kill, and 1 assist.
The Lady Wolverines ended the week with two wins and two losses to start the season.
This week, Dade faced Lady Panthers of Ridgeland and the Lady Warriors of Marion County, Tenn., on Monday and the Lady Tigers of Ringgold on Tuesday. The team travels to LaFayette on Thursday to face the Lady Ramblers and Oakwood Christian Academy.