Wortham beat Valley Mills in five games: Wortham 25-17; Wortham 25-18; VM 25-21; VM 26-24; Wortham 16-14
Senior Middle hitter Ashley Mao had 31 kills, 13 digs, 5 blocks, and 2 aces.
Junior middle hitter Rylee Goolsby had 24 kills, 8 blocks and one ace.
Junior hitter Jessica Black had 21 kills, 3 digs, 2 blocks, 2 aces and 1 assist
Senior Libero Hallie Fautt lead the team in defense and serve receive with 30 digs, one ace and 3 kills.
Sophomore Reagan Stuver stepped up as setter (while Jayde Hamilton is out) and had 58 assists, 14 digs, and two aces.
Junior hitter Samantha Wright had 6 kills, 3 digs and 2 blocks.
Junior hitter Skylar Phillips had 15 digs, 3 kills, 2 aces and 1 block.
Junior defense specialist Megan Whaley had 10 digs, 2 aces and 1 kill.
Wortham came out strong and held down Valley Mills in the first two sets but relaxed and let Valley Mills take the lead in the third set and we couldn’t overcome with the win. Both teams had some strong defense that lead to long rallies and close sets. Valley mills took the third set 21-25 and the fourth set was the battle of who could put the ball away. Wortham lost the match point to a serving error which tied up the game. Wortham then lost 24-26. Wortham set the tone of the fifth with a four point lead but lost the momentum and was down 9-13. Wortham fought back with some impressive teamwork and took the win 16-14.
Reagan Stuver has really stepped up as setter while Jayde Hamilton is out with a heart complication. Reagan has worked hard and has done everything that I asked from her. She has really turned our offense around. We have had some impressive defense and passing from Hallie Fautt and Megan Whaley but we couldn’t finish with kills until Reagan stepped up. Ashley Mao and Rylee Goolsby have been dominating the net and I was really impressed how Jessica Black stepped up tonight to improve our offense.
We have a solid team but we have to learn to not relax and let our opponents get a set against us. We have to overcome losing the lead and learn how to battle from behind.
Wortham has a twenty year consecutive playoff appearance record and we want to continue our streak for playoffs and district champs. Last year we went 16-0 in district and lost at the area quarter finals to the state champions, Crawford, so we want to take our team to the next step and conquer the regional tournament. We will find out Thursday if team caption Jayde Hamilton will be released to join our voyage.
Coach DeAnna Whaley reporting.
