Woodstock’s team volleyball managed a spotless 5-0 record over the two-day Cherokee County play date, regaining the county title it last held in 2003. The Lady Wolverines’ road to the title was paved largely by a win over archrival Etowah, which finished second overall.
McBay led the Lady Wolverines with a total of 26 kills and 11.5 blocks, team highs in both categories.
Woodstock also benefited from the standout performances of Grace Townsend, who had 34 assists and nine digs, and Paige Trammell, who led the team in digs with 25.
Woodstock coach Anita Dodd was thrilled with her team’s performance throughout the round-robin event.
“I think ‘ecstatic’ is a good word,” Dodd said of how she felt after Woodstock beat host River Ridge in Saturday’s final match to cement its perfect record.
“Winning county was one of our top goals for this season. All of the things that we have talked about in the last couple of weeks, that we needed to do on the court, finally came together. The team just did such a great job.”
It was the third county title for Woodstock, which also won in 1998. Sequoyah still holds the overwhelming lead in county titles, with 17 since the event was first held in 1991.
Woodstock opened the county play date Thursday night against archrival Etowah, which it had just lost to in an Area 4AAAAAA match less than two weeks before.
The Lady Wolverines got their revenge, winning 25-18, 25-20, before going on to beat Cherokee 25-13, 25-9 to end the day with a 2-0 record.
As it turned out, Woodstock’s victory over Etowah would be its most important of the tournament, as the Lady Eagles finished the play date with a 4-1 record.
Woodstock’s first match Saturday was also important, as it went up against Creekview, which was also 2-0 at the time after defeating River Ridge and Sequoyah on Thursday.
With the pressure on, and the winner able to gain the upper hand on the county title, McBay was the one who stepped up to shine for the Lady Wolverines.
She was dominant at the net, registering a team-high 13 kills and six blocks against Creekview.
After Woodstock won the first set 25-21, the Lady Grizzlies fought back to win the second set 25-20. Creekview was unable to complete the comeback, however, as Woodstock and McBay once again won the battle up front and took the third set 25-17 to win the match.
McBay also provided the game-winning kill as the Lady Wolverines soundly defeated Sequoyah 25-17, 25-15 to clinch the county title with one match to spare.
Dodd couldn’t say enough about how pleased she was with McBay’s performance.
“Riley has just gone above and beyond (Saturday),” Dodd said. “I don’t know what she had for breakfast, but we are going to feed everybody on the team the same thing for the rest of the season.”
It was also the first time in Dodd’s coaching career that she had ever defeated Sequoyah, where she coached from 1994-98.
Though Woodstock’s last match against River Ridge was just a formality, they still defeated the Lady Knights 25-10, 25-15 and hoisted the county trophy for the first time in nine years.
“I am so excited and so proud of our team,” McBay said after posing for photos with her teammates. “I think we played extremely well. Woodstock hadn’t won county in such a long time that we really came together for this. I am so happy that (the team) got to be a part of this together.”
Among the other county teams, Creekview (3-2) was third, followed by Sequoyah (2-3), River Ridge (1-5) and Cherokee (0-6).
For Dodd, winning county should provide her team with some much-needed momentum going into the Area 4AAAAAA tournament, which will begin Thursday.
“I think winning the county will do us some tremendous good,” Dodd said. “We are hoping the momentum from this tournament will carry us all the way through the next one.”
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