The Glenvar girls are in the state volleyball tournament. The Highlanders will play Central of Wise on Saturday at Glenvar High School at 4 pm in the state quarterfinal round.
Glenvar clinched a spot in the state when the Highlanders won a Region 2C semifinal match in Appomattox last Thursday. The top two teams from each region qualify for the state, so the two region finalists both qualify. On Tuesday the Highlanders earned a home game for the state quarterfinal with a four set win at Floyd for the Region C championship.
Tuesday’s match with Floyd was a thriller between two district rivals who both have state championship aspirations. The visiting Highlanders were down 24-18 in the first set when they scored the last eight points, all on serves by Hannah Hylton, to win 26-24.
Floyd came firing back in the second set,winning 25-15 to tie the match. Glenvar then won the third, 25-21, and in the fourth set the Highlanders led 22-18 before Floyd scored four straight to hang tough at 22-22. Glenvar then pulled it out with Cara Butler acing the Buffaloes for the last point of a 27-25 set to win the match in four.
“It was a great match,” said Glenvar coach Mark Rohrback. “Floyd really played well.”
Butler had 24 assists, four kills and three aces for Glenvar. Bailey Conner had 13 kills and 17 digs while Claire Griffith had 14 kills and 16 digs. Hylton had four aces and 24 digs.
The win lifted Glenvar to 20-3 while Floyd fell to 21-2, with both losses to Glenvar. With the victory the Highlanders are three wins away from a state championship. After Saturday the semifinals are next Tuesday at a site to be determined, and the state championship for Class 2 is Saturday, November 20, at the Salem Civic Center.
Glenvar clinched a spot in the state with a win at previously undefeated Appomattox last Thursday. The Highlanders were hitting on all cylinders as they not only ended the Raiders’ season, but put them away in three sets, 25-9, 25-19 and 25-23.
“After we absolutely came out on fire, the Appomattox girls did a great job of rising up to our speed of play, and played a really solid match,” said Glenvar coach Mark Rohrback. “The atmosphere in their gym was electric.”
Glenvar was down 18-22 in the third set when Rohrback called his second time out, and the girls responded by winning seven of the next eight rallies to finish the match in three sets. The only point the Raiders won was on a missed serve to put them up 23-20, then Glenvar won the next five points to win the match.
“I was extremely proud of the girls for their level of focus and mental toughness, and give Appomattox a lot of credit for continuing to play hard and fight after the first set,” said Rohrback. “They are tough girls and great volleyball players.”
Sydney Loder had 14 serves with three aces, 7 kills and six blocks for what was possibly her best game of the season. Audrey Conner had 16 serves and five aces along with 12 assists and five digs. Hylton had 13 serves and three aces as well as 18 digs.
Floyd County improved to 21-1 with a three set win over Radford in the other semifinal. That set up the third Glenvar-Floyd match on Tuesday after the two Three Rivers District rivals split their first two meetings, with each winning on their home floor. Floyd was the higher seed in the regional so the Buffaloes got the home match Tuesday but the Highlanders got the win.
As the runnerup in Region 2C Floyd will go to Gate City on Saturday. If the Buffaloes win it would set up a fourth meeting with Glenvar at GHS next Tuesday.