MINT HILL, NC – Action on the court with Patriots diving to prevent a point. The Independence Girls Volleyball team faced Charlotte Catholic for the first time in conference competition. Charlotte Catholic replaced Myers Park in this year’s NCHSAA realignment in the Southwestern 4A Conference and is a new entry.
The Cougars prevailed with a 3 game and match victory. The first game in the contest was won by CCHS 25-14 in a well-played match. There were some very nice long volleys along with key kill shots or slams on both ends of the net by the teams.
The second game was very similar, with CCHS pulling out a 25-16 win and gaining a big victory up 2-0 in games. However, in the third game, Indy seemed to wear down by the bigger front-line advantage the Cougars had at the net, and they were soundly defeated by the taller team 25-7 who used their height advantage throughout the entire match.
The Lady Patriots showed a lot of hustle, teamwork, competitiveness, and determination to hang tough with the Cougars through the majority of the contest. However, in the third game played, CCHS dominated at the net, they controlled the tempo of the match giving them a huge advantage the young Patriots could not counter effectively making the final game a blowout.
Overall, in the loss, the lady Patriots did a fine job in attacking, serving consistently, blocking some key shots, they dove for the ball, were passionate and aggressive, but showed some more work needs to be accomplished on ball handling, passing, and hard serve receiving.
The young Patriots are now 1-2 on the season, they are 0-1 in the Southwestern 4A Conference. Next week after the Labor Day weekend, they will return to action at home in a key conference matchup against Providence High School on Thursday, 9/9 at 5:30 pm.
