Cartersville volleyball advances in Area Tournament; hosts final rounds Thursday

Cartersville volleyball defeated Troup County in straight sets Wednesday at Chapel Hill 25-13 and 25-19 to reach the winners’ bracket final of the Region 5-AAAA tournament.

The tournament continues Thursday at the Storm Center at Cartersville High School with the Lady Canes and three other teams still alive for the region title.

The top-seeded Lady Canes will play sixth-seeded Central-Carroll at 5:30 pm with the winner advancing to the region championship match. Also at 5:30 pm, Chapel Hill will play LaGrange in an elimination match.

The Cartersville/Central loser will play the Chapel Hill/LaGrange winner at 6:30 pm in a semifinal elimination match with the winner advancing to the finals against the Cartersville/Central winner at 7:30 pm.

The finals will be a best-of-five set match.

The bracket is not a true double-elimination. The losers’ bracket survivor is not required to defeat the winners’ bracket winner twice to win the region title.

"I loved our pregame preparation and the attitudes we brought today,” said Cartersville coach Dustin Cothran. “The girls were very relaxed on the bus, but that all changed when we stepped off. We played like we were hungry, and we looked like the team who had gone 6-0 in the region. Catie Heilman was huge all the way around for us. Both of our middles put a lot of balls away. Our defense was really good.”

Cartersville’s Heilman was named Area MVP. Teammates Grace Hunter and Nedu Evans were also selected to the All-Area First Team.

The Lady Canes improved to 24-3 on the season.

Photo credit: Nancy Brant