North Adams’ Aulbrea Meade makes a return in the Lady Devils’ season-opening win over Minford. (Photo by Tim Daulton)
Another dig for North Adam; Paige Evans, this one coming in the August 19 five-set win over Minford. (Photo by Tim Daulton)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
It is not unusual to look in the high school volleyball standings and see the North Adams Lady Devils with an undefeated record. Coming off a gold ball season in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference in 2023, coach Katie Ragan and her squad were off to a 4-0 start this season as this publication went to press.
The Lady Devils began their 2024 campaign on August 19 with what has been their toughest match up thus far, a five-set home win over the Minford Lady Falcons. North Adams took the first two sets, 25-20 and 25-8, but then lost the next two 18-25 and 25-27, setting up a decisive fifth set. The North Adams girls bounced back to take that final set 15-11.
Since that exciting opener, the Lady Devils have marched through three consecutive wins, all in straight sets, and two of them in Southern Hills Athletic Conference play. That run began with a convincing three-set win over Ripley (25-8, 25-7, 25-13) and another straight set triumph over Lynchburg (25-14, 25-11, 25-19). On August 26, the Lady Devils rolled to a non-conference win over Portsmouth Clay (25-14, 25-13, 25-9). On Tuesday, August 27 the North Adams girls faced the toughest test to their unblemished mark, traveling to Portsmouth West to face the Lady Senators. No score of that match was available at press time.
“I am glad to be off to a 4-0 start,” said Coach Ragan. “The team is working together well. I am playing eight players and they are all making important contributions to the team. We are doing a better job on serve receive than we did last year. We need to cut down on our serving and hitting errors going forward.”
“Minford gave us a really good game to start the season. It went five sets and was very much a back and forth game with a lot of hustle on both sides. Lynchburg Clay is better than they were last year. They are a good scrappy team.”
Here are some of the state leaders from the first three North Adams wins.
Minford- Katelynn Boerger- 19 kills, Natalie Ragan 43 assists, Paige Evans 17 digs
Ripley- Aulbrea Meade- 11 service aces
Lynchburg- Katelynn Boerger- 18 kills, Natalie Ragan- 36 assists
