With the loss of Region IV District Player of the Year Kim Caudill, Carroll County head coach Cindy Edwards said the rest of the team will have to step up their games.

That happened Aug. 24 as the Cavaliers opened the season with a 25-23, 25-16, 25-18 victory over Galax in Hillsville. The Cavaliers got a balanced team effort as eight players contributed four or more points to the victory. While the Cavaliers return all but two players from last season’s team that won a school-record 23 games, the two that graduated were extremely important to Carroll (2-1). Leanna Rippey was a Second-Team All-Southwest District selection, while Caudill set school records for kills in a game, and kills and blocks in one season en route to being named Region IV Player of the Year.

“I think it has to be a team effort. I think Dionna (Reece) and Maleah Neely are playing well, but I think everybody out there has to be able to put the ball down this year,” Edwards said. “That is what we have talked about since camp and what we have been working to do.”

Reece led the team with 14 kills, while Sarah Singleton threw down eight. Neely contributed seven kills and Lauren Roper had six more. Roper led all Cavs with two blocks, while Reece and Neely each had one block.

The Cavaliers particularly played well in the serving game, making good on 69 of 71 serves. Singleton was 16-of-16 with an ace, while Reece was 12-of-12 with two aces. Neely also made good on all nine of her attempts behind the service line.

Carroll was also balanced in the passing attack with Neely leading the way with 14 digs and 21 kill assists. Honesty Rogers added 10 digs and Singleton had eight more.

“I thought we passed really well. The first game I didn’t think we executed the ball down well, but as we went on we did better,” Edwards said. “We only missed two serves all night, so I thought we did a great job serving.”

Carroll got a formidable challenge from a much-improved Patrick County team the following evening in Stuart before taking a 25-23, 25-22, 25-21 non-district victory.

The Cavs took advantage of another good serving night, making good on 68 of 72 serves and 13 aces to improve to 2-0. Neely led the way at the net with 11 kills and four blocks. She also had seven digs.

“Patrick is much improved. Some of their players came to our camp at the high school this year and they are doing a good job over there,” Edwards said. “They are a whole lot better.”

Lexi Hodge made the most of her six serves, going 5-of-6 with four aces. Jessi Goad also had four aces in a perfect 14-of-14 serving performance. Neely connected on all 11 of her serves, while Singleton was 8-of-8.

Singleton led the Cavs with 11 digs, while Rogers paced the team with 10 kill assists. Goad added nine kill assists in the victory.

Carroll, which went undefeated during the regular season a year ago, lost its first match of the year Thursday at Floyd County 25-21, 19-25, 25-21, 23-25, 16-18.

Neely led Carroll with 23 serving points and 10 kills. Reece had eight kills and Singleton chipped in 18 service points.

JV

Galax topped Carroll County 25-18, 25-9 in the junior varsity season opener.

Jessica Sheek led Carroll with nine points, while Autumn Hill added seven. Morgan Dickens and Ashley Willard each had three points.

Carroll’s JV team rebounded the following evening with a 25-15, 25-10 victory at Patrick County. Bowman scored 11 points to lead the Cavaliers, while Willard, Hill and Dickens each added nine. Sheek contributed seven points and Aston Huff chipped in five.