With each ace, with each kill, with each point scored Monday by Polk Middle School’s volleyball squad, one fact become strikingly clear to all those gathered at PCMS for the Blue Ridge Middle School Conference championship match.
No one, certainly not the Rugby Raiders lined up across the net, would be denying the Wolverines their piece of history on this day.
Polk Middle capped a season of dominance Monday with one final, overwhelming performance, blowing past Rugby 25-8, 25-14 to claim the Blue Ridge conference crown and complete the first undefeated season by any girls squad in school history.
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“They knew from the beginning of the season that their goals were not only to win the division, but to win the conference and go undefeated,” said Polk head coach Brandy Alm. “These girls play so hard and stay so focused on the court. They want to win so much.”
And win so much, they did, finishing an unblemished 15-0. Not only that, they didn’t lose a set in any of those 15 matches. Not only that, no team scored more than 16 points in any of those sets.
It’s almost as perfect a story as can be written. And Monday’s final chapter didn’t stray from the narrative.
From the beautifully rendered national anthem by team members Lauren Ketwitz, Reagan Waddell and Bella Bowser at the start of the match to the final point that landed cleanly on Rugby’s side of the court, the afternoon belonged completely to Polk County. Rugby scored the first point of the match, but that would be the only time in either set that the Wolverines trailed. Polk County scored 15 of the next 16 points, built leads of 19-3 and 21-5 and wrapped up game one on an ace by Ketwitz and a Cameron Capozzi kill.
The second game of the match began much more evenly, with Polk up 6-3 before kills by Sara McCown and Waddell helped the Wolverines surge to a 10-4 lead. Veteran Rugby head coach Shawn Corhn, who is retiring after this season and was honored after the match, called a timeout at that point, but Polk still scored five of the next six points, including three aces by Maddie Blackwell, to build a 15-5 lead.
Rugby fought back to 15-8 before a trio of Kendall Hall kills helped the Wolverines surge to a 19-9 advantage. From there, it was just a matter of time before the Wolverines could finally celebrate the completion of their season-long goals.
“We started out strong,” Alm said “Our serving and passing were very aggressive. We had some points here and there where things fell apart a bit, but we gathered ourselves and refocused and went back at it.
“I’m very proud of these girls. They’ve worked hard, and it shows. Not only did we not lose a match all season, we didn’t lose a set. They came ready to play every day.”
