TRIBUNE/Matthew Gorry
Starmount’s Erin Barr jumps to set the ball for Ashton Gregory Thursday night against Elkin.
TRIBUNE/Matthew Gorry
Starmount’s Ashton Gregory spikes the ball past the out-stretched arms of Elkin’s Jasmine Strickland Thursday night.
BOONVILLE - The Lady Rams breezed past Elkin Thursday to take the volleyball edition of the Battle of the Bridge and improve to 4-0 in Mountain Valley Conference play.
Starmount swept the Elks 3-0, without surrendering double-digits points in any of the three sets, winning handily 25-3, 25-9, 25-8.
“I thought we played well and were efficient in what we did,” head coach Jon Symons explained. “The work we put in at practice paid off today. I thought Ashton and Erin played really well - we all had a good match. I thought Rachel did a good job at being aggressive and swinging on the outside. Hayley made some good passes on target that made our life easier.”
In the first set, Starmount opened on an 8-1 run, including scoring the first five points.
After Elkin cut the lead to 8-2, the Rams closed on 17-1 run to take the opening set in dominating fashion.
In set two, the Rams came out strong once again, scoring 15 of the first 17 points to take a double-digit lead. After a timeout, Elkin scored three quick points to momentarily stop Starmount’s run.
But the Rams closed out the closest set of the afternoon with a 9-4 burst to take a 2-0 lead.
In the final set, Starmount came out on fire, reeling off 10-straight points and 12 of the first 14. The Lady Elks hung around, but couldn’t avoid the sweep, falling 25-8.
Ashton Gregory led the Rams with 12 kills and two blocks. Rachel Wagoner and Hayley Hartman added seven and six kills, respectively.
Hunter Welborn tacked on three kills and three blocks, while Erin Barr recorded 29 assists in the match.
With the win, Starmount improves to a perfect 4-0 in conference play at the quarter mark of the season.
“It’s a good start in conference play,” Symons said. “Everyone’s goal is trying to win the conference, because it takes care of the number one seed to get into the state playoffs, so that’s always our first goal. With a 4-0 start one time, halfway through the conference sounds good, we just don’t want to take anything for granted. We have to keep working and trying to get better.”
Injuries may be the only thing standing in the way of another MVAC title for the Rams.
“We’ve been trying to work at getting a couple of our kids back into game shape; we’ve had a few injury issues,” Symons added. “We’re trying to piece things together.”
Reach Matthew Gorry at 835-1513 or mgorry@heartlandpublications.com.
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