Cartersville volleyball sweeps into second round of state playoffs

The Cartersville volleyball team took care of business in a big way Thursday night at the Storm Center in the opening round of the GHSA Class AAAA state playoffs by dispatching Chestatee in three straight sets.

"We were very intense and enthusiastic tonight,” said Cartersville head coach Dustin Cothran. “I've been impressed with the way we have started matches of late. Early in the season, we were playing comeback a lot. We have played well as frontrunners lately, and I like it.”

The Lady Canes -- champions of Area 5AAAA -- won 25-12, 25-13, and 25-17 for the 3-0 victory over the 4th-seeded War Eagles.

"Catie Heilman and Nedu Evans were offensive leaders again along with Grace Hunter who served and set very well,” continued Cothran. “Jayla Cunningham and Anna Mathis were great at Libero tonight. Addie Smith and Bella Corrigan were solid as defensive specialists. It was a great group effort.”

Cothran did observe an area where his club needs to keep improving.

“Our serving tonight was a little inconsistent. That is a result of trying to serve tough and keep the opponent out of system. We'll need to cut down on the errors moving forward, but we'll have a few days to work on that,” Cothran added.

The Lady Canes (27-3) will also host the second round of the state playoffs next Tuesday night at the Storm Center. Cartersville will face Heritage-Catoosa who defeated Jefferson in four sets Thursday night in Ringgold.

Heritage won the first two sets with Jefferson 25-23 and 25-20 before dropping the third set 25-20. The Lady Generals finished off the match in the fourth set with a 25-17 win.

Heritage was the runner-up from Area 6AAAA.