Kenny Hall sees this year’s Polk County Middle’s volleyball team as a work in progress.
Safe to say the job’s going pretty well so far.
The Wolverines kicked off play Tuesday in the rugged Blue Ridge Conference East Division with a sweep of Rugby Middle, handing the Raiders a 25-14, 25-22 setback Tuesday at Polk Middle.
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The win over one of the East’s traditional powerhouse programs improved Polk Middle to 4-0 this season and provided another boost of confidence to a Wolverine squad that looks to be very much on the rise.
“It’s always tough to beat (Rugby),” Hall said. “No matter what the talent level is for either side, it’s just tough.
“I was really proud of several of our players today who had kind of a gut check out there on the court. They were able to pull it together and make the plays we needed to make when we absolutely had to have them.”
The Wolverines landed an early blow to the Raiders’ hopes, racing to a 7-1 lead in the first set and quickly extending that advantage to 14-4. Rugby fought back to within 19-11, but an Alia Vorbe kill stopped a small surge, and ScottLynn Whiteside closed the set with a kill to give Polk a 1-0 lead.
The second set stayed much closer. At 5-5, Polk’s Kenzie Alm served four consecutive aces, and strong serving from Marley Rickman helped the Wolverines build a 12-6 advantage. Rugby battled back and closed to within 15-15, but a Rickman push shot, a Vorbe ace and two Alexus Wingo aces helped give Polk a 20-15 advantage.
The Raiders inched back to 21-19; Alm delivered a kill to make it 22-19. Rugby closed to 22-21, but an errant serve following a Polk timeout kept the Wolverines ahead, and Preslie Bradley and Alm had kills to close the match.
“I’m really proud of them,” Hall said. “We have a long way to go. We have a lot of work to do. This is just one of their first tests, with many more to come, including (Wednesday’s match at Apple Valley Middle). We don’t want that to be a letdown game.”
Polk travels to face Apple Valley in a 4:30 p.m. match.
