North Adams is seventh grade tourney runner-up –
By Mark Carpenter –
As the high school squads in the county wind down their regular season, the junior high volleyball teams finished up their season last weekend at Fairfield High School, participating in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference Tournament. The big winners from Adams County were the seventh grade Manchester Lady Greyhounds, under the direction of Coach Crystal Roberts, who won three matches in the two days of play to capture the SHAC Tournament, beating county foe North Adams in the championship match.
The Lady Hounds began their march to the title by knocking off Peebles in the quarterfinals in a tight match, 25-21, 25-23. That set up a semi-final match up with Fayetteville, where the Lady Hounds had a littler easier time, downing the Lady Rockets 25-7, 25-18.
The win over Fayetteville propelled Manchester into the Saturday championship game, where they faced off with Coach Rob Meade and his North Adams Lady Devils. North Adams took the first set in a close one 25-22, but that loss must have lit a fire under the Lady Hounds as they came back with a vengeance and rolled in the next two sets, 25-9 and 25-10 to capture the SHAC championship trophy.
In the eighth grade tournament, Coach Meade took his eighth grade Lady Devils in as the number one seed, but they were upset in the quarterfinals by Ripley in three sets, 20-25, 25-20, 25-23. Also in the eighth grade tourney, number five seed Peebles fell in the quarterfinals to Fayetteville, number six seed Manchester was ousted in the quarters by Lynchburg, and number 10 seed West Union fell in the first round to Eastern Brown. Number four seeded Fayetteville eventually won the eighth grade tourney, upsetting third seed Lynchburg in the finals.
Adams County had two regular season champions in junior high volleyball as Manchester tied for first place in Division II in the seventh grade standings, even with Fairfield as both sported 9-3 conference marks. North Adams captured the SHAC regular season title in eighth grade in Division II with an 11-2 record, while Peebles placed second in Division I at 8-5.
SHAC Junior High Volleyball Final Standings
Seventh Grade
Division I
Ripley 7-4
Lynchburg 5-6
Peebles 3-8
Eastern 2-9
Division II
Fairfield 9-3
Manchester 9-3
Fayetteville 8-4
North Adams 7-5
Whiteoak 2-10
Eighth Grade
Division I
Lynchburg 11-2
Peebles 8-5
Eastern 4-9
Ripley 4-9
West Union 0-13
Division II
North Adams 11-2
Fairfield 11-2
Fayetteville 9-4
Manchester 5-8