Lady Canes retain county volleyball title

Cartersville volleyball won the 2019 Bartow County Championship Tournament with three straight victories Saturday at Woodland High School. The Lady Canes, who have won the county title in 13 consecutive years according to head coach Dutch Cothran Sunday morning, had wins over Woodland and Cass to reach the championship match which was a rematch with the host Lady Cats.

In the championship match, Anna Grace Brock set the tone with an ace to begin the match. Seniors Lauren Wenzell and Halle Matthews racked up kills, and a nice run of service by Mason Cline helped give the Canes a healthy advantage before the Wildcats could respond.

The Wildcats battled back, however. After splitting the final 24 points of the first set, Woodland stayed close in the second set.

Behind the solid play of Matthews and Wenzell, Cartersville extended its lead to 14-8. Then Woodland began to chip away. Sydney Molinaro had a pair of aces to help claw the Wildcats within a point at 17-16.

At that point, Cartersville's Macey Vaughn -- who transferred to Cartersville after spending her sophomore season at Woodland -- had a key kill to keep the Canes in the lead.

Wenzell, who finished with 10 kills in the match, followed with three point-winning spikes in a four-point span. Woodland called for a timeout and rallied back to tied the match at 23.

Cartersville then used a timeout and posted the next two points to capture the championship.

Woodland's Molinaro finished her team's four consecutive matches with 31 kills, 31 assists, 19 digs and nine aces. Caroline Gore had 15 kills, 14 digs and three aces over the final three matches.

TOURNAMENT FINAL SCORES:

Cartersville defeated Woodland 25-22, 25-21 Cass defeated Adairsville 25-17, 25-21

Woodland defeated Adairsville 25-22, 25-17

Cartersville defeated Cass 25-9, 27-29, 15-7

Woodland defeated Cass 20-25, 25-23, 15-8

CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH

Cartersville defeated Woodland 25-13, 25-23

All-Tournament Team: Lauren Wenzell-Cartersville Anna Grace Brock-Cartersville Macey Vaughn-Cartersville Sydney Molinaro-Woodland Caroline Gore-Woodland, Keegan Krause-Cass Aaliyah Applin-Adairsville