Gilmer High was busy on the volleyball court last week with 10 matches over a five-day span.
The Cats made their way to Cobb County Saturday, Aug. 28, for the Georgia Challenge Tournament and faced larger schools from Class 6A and 7A. GHS earned one win on the day while losing four.
GHS was back on the court Monday at Union County and fell to the Panthers, 2-1. Gilmer hosted Cherokee Bluff and Lumpkin County the following day and dropped both matches, 2-0. The Cats closed out the week Thursday at home versus Murray County and Pickens and lost by respective scores of 2-1 and 2-0.
“I felt like after the tournament on Saturday and the matches at the beginning of the week, we needed to sit down and rethink our strategies,” said GHS head coach Donna Parks. “We changed the rotation a bit and changed how we presented on the court in a couple rotations and really saw a difference in the cohesiveness of the team as we played Murray and Pickens. It was evidenced by the scores.
“As we continue to work through it, I believe we will see a real improvement in our overall play on each ball.”
At the tournament, GHS earned a win over Sprayberry (25-17, 25-19), and fell to Rome (25-17, 25-17), Woodstock (25-22, 25-15) and Forsyth Central (25-16, 25-20). The Cats claimed a 25-17 opening set victory over East Paulding but dropped the next two, 25-15 and 15-6.
Lady Cats Adrian Thompson and Anneliese Vaughn both totaled five aces on the day, while Elly Callihan and Libby Pike notched four apiece and Katie Weaver had three. Kill leaders included Callihan (19), Taylor McCormick (13), Weaver (nine) and Vaughn (eight).
Thompson was the top setter with 29 assists, and Vaughn tallied 15 and added 25 digs. Callihan was there for 16 digs and was followed by McCormick (11), Thompson (10), Weaver (nine), Gracie Cain and Pike (seven) Dacey Attebery (six) and Reagan Boling (three).
Union was able to beat GHS in three sets two days later, 25-20 and 15-9 after the Cats won the first set, 25-22. Both Callihan and McCormick had six kills while Thompson and Vaughn provided six assists each.
Gilmer played a solid opening set against Cherokee Bluff the following day in a 25-19 loss before a one-sided 25-1 defeat in the second set. Callihan had three aces, four kills and five digs. Thompson was there for five assists.
Lumpkin won by scores of 25-14 and 25-11. McCormick, Weaver, Callihan and Thompson all had a block for GHS. The Cats were limited to kills by Callihan (three) and Weaver and McCormick (two each) as Vaughn had four assists. McCormick’s seven digs were tops, and she was followed by Thompson (six) and Boring and Vaughn (four each).
GHS had much closer matches Thursday versus Murray and Pickens. GHS defeated MCHS 26-24 in set two between losses of 26-24 and 16-14. Notable statistics included Callihan’s four kills, Thompson’s three assists and digs by Vaughn (six) and McCormick and Thompson (five apiece).
Pickens topped GHS to finish the day, 25-17 and 28-26. Callihan was the Cats’ top hitter (eight kills) and server (three aces) while also getting in position to tally 12 digs. McCormick added five kills, Vaughn had four, Weaver posted three, Thomson had two and Pike one.
Thompson was there for eight assists and seven digs, while Vaughn had six and four, respectively. Remaining digs were collected by McCormick (10), Boling (five), Cain (three), Weaver (two) and Pike (one).
The junior varsity Cats downed Union (25-23, 10-25, 25-15) and Lumpkin (25-17, 25-11) last week. They were defeated by Cherokee Bluff (25-11, 25-19), Murray (25-10, 25-23) and Pickens (26-24, 26-24). The Cats also earned a 2-0 victory over Woodland
The C-team Lady Cats were in action as well and claimed a win over East Hall 25-12 in set two but lost the first and third by scores of 28-26 and 15-13. The Cats rebounded to beat West Hall 2-14 and 25-11.