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Light fire stops volley contest
Even indoors, area sports teams weren’t completely free from disruptions caused by the thunderstorms that passed through Northwest Georgia on Thursday evening.
While Northwest Whitfield’s varsity volleyball team was able to wait out a slight delay on its way to a non-region victory at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe, Dalton’s home opener against Southeast was spoiled by a power outage that stopped the match in the second game after a light caught fire in the Cats’ Den.
The Lady Catamounts won the first game 25-22, but trailed the Lady Raiders 17-12 in the second when that happened.
“You could hear thunder outside and then a set of lights went out,” Dalton coach Lisa Donahue said. “We tried to get them back on and, all of a sudden, one of the lights started smoking and then it started flaming.”
It was unlike anything Donahue is able to recall happening in 25 years of playing and coaching volleyball, she said, and Southeast coach Jake Dickey had a similar impression.
“It was pretty crazy,” Dickey said. “There was a good flame coming from it for a while, but they turned out the rest of the lights and the fire stopped. I guess it was an electrical-type deal.”
The match will be picked up where it left off at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
• Northwest volleyball coach Richard Taylor is finding his options plentiful this season, thanks to an experienced lineup, the increased leadership shown by middle hitter Kelsey Kirk and the energy of libero Alex Warren.
Those were among the good things Taylor has already gathered from the 4-2 Lady Bruins, who rolled past the Lady Warriors 25-14, 25-13 in Fort Oglethorpe for their latest victory.
“The two who really just hustled all over the court tonight making saves were Alex Warren and Kelsey Kirk,” Taylor said.
“I’ve been really happy with Kelsey, she’s really stepped up as a leader for our team. She’s just more vocal and I’ve got her playing all the way around now, so she’s the one who’s bring everyone together.”
With six seniors and a junior at the core of an experienced lineup, Taylor said he also has more ease in making changes to the rotation when necessary.
“They’ve played so much,” Taylor said. “When you switch up the rotations and walk through it one time, they’ve got it. That’s a luxury a lot of coaches don’t have.”
Senior outside hitter Christy Robinson is obviously feeling better after missing the season’s opening week with a shoulder injury.
She followed up an 11-kill performance in Tuesday’s win against Southeast with nine kills, two aces and a pair of digs at LFO.
Quaneisha McCurty added eight kills, Kirk had four kills and five digs, Morgan Ridley five kills, a block and an ace and Haley Dobson 22 assists and four digs.
Taylor said the LFO gym had its own brief power outage, which led to a 15-minute wait while the lights came back on and play continued.
Although the Bruins had little trouble on the scoreboard — once power was restored — Taylor said LFO’s style of play made for an “awkward match.”
“They get a lot of balls back up and play really good defense,” he said. “But they never put any pressure on us with their hitting. It was us hitting hard and them getting the ball back up and eventually we’d score the points.
• Murray County’s Lady Indians lost to Gordon Lee 25-8, 25-16 and fell to 1-1. Mirely Cabral had 15 assists and three digs while Chelsea Keller added 13 digs.
JV volleyball
• Southeast won its second straight match to start the season, topping Dalton 25-13, 25-18 behind a nine-ace, two-kill performance by Lindsay Cox. Megan Collins added five kills and Linda Duarte had five assists and a pair of aces.
• Northwest fell in three games to LFO, winning the opener 25-20 before losing 25-19 and 25-18. The Lady Bruins dropped to 0-2.
n The Lady Indians got three aces from Katie Quast and three assists by Roxana Cervantes, but Murray County dropped a 25-6, 25-11 match to Gordon Lee.
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