Central volleyball took home the silver plaque on Tuesday, October 6, after their hard-fought matches. The team handled business the hard way by playing two matches, each going to five games. The first set against the Red Bank Lions was just the beginning of the intense rivalries to play. After losing the first game 21-25, the girls fought their way back to winning the second 25-22. Red Bank fired back with another win over the Pounders 20-25, leaving the Lions only one game left to win the match and move on to the championship. After an emotional talk with the coaches, the Lady Pounders pulled through to win the next game 27-25 along with the tie-breaker game 15-8.

“In the back of my head, all I could think about was how that could’ve been our last game. But as Brooke started a rally with her serve, I realized we had a great chance to win the game. It really pumped me back up,” commented senior Lexie Ainslie.

After an emotionally-draining match, the Lady Pounders led right into the championship against the Hixson Wildcats. After dominating the first game 25-13, both teams were shocked at each other’s performance.

“I was feeling pretty good about winning the first game in that match with Hixson. But I knew they would come back harder the second game, so we had to be ready,” noted senior captain Rebekah Hill.

The Lady Wildcats did just that, but barely won by a score of 25-23. Both teams were fired up, leading Central and Hixson to win two apiece. To break the tie, the fifth game (to 15 points) started rough for the Pounders. After seven straight points were scored by the opponent, Central eventually came back once again to tie it up 8-8. Both teams were neck-and-neck for the rest of the game, but the winning point would be given to Hixson after the Pounders were charged with a double hit.

The Lady Pounders were disappointed, but the team definitely had the whole district talking after their impressive performance for ten straight games that night. The girls will play in the region semi-finals on Tuesday, October 13, against Polk County at Hixson at 6 p.m.