Walton’s Kelly Murphy leaps for an attack against Pope.
Staff photo by Anthony Stalcup
Staff photo by Anthony Stalcup
In an atmosphere that resembled a state championship match with a large, noisy and energetic crowd, Pope won the first sets 25-17 and 25-18 before Walton rallied back to win the next three 25-18, 25-21 and 15-7 and claim the matchup between the top-ranked teams in Class AAAAA (Walton) and AAAA (Pope).
Walton (9-4) finally beat Pope (22-1) after losing to the Lady Greyhounds in five sets for last year's state championship. The east Cobb archrivals also met this August, with Walton winning in three sets in a best-of-three format.
The loss also ended a 32-match winning streak for Pope, whose last defeat also came at the hands of Walton on Oct. 6, 2009. In fact, the Lady Greyhounds haven't lost a match to anyone but the Lady Raiders since falling to Northview in the 2008 Class AAAAA finals.
For Walton, it was a big come-from-behind win, and Lady Raiders coach Suzanne Fitzgerald was proud of her team's effort.
"The girls knew they could (come from behind) and they never gave up," Fitzgerald said. "We changed our offense, and the adjustments worked. I am so proud of our girls and how they fought back."
The first set was a close-fought battle as both teams traded the lead several times early on.
Up 9-8, Pope began to pull away, scoring four unanswered points on a block by Leslye Barnette and three Walton errors to increase its lead.
The Lady Greyhounds then took advantage of more errors to increase their lead more and found themselves ahead 21-11 to take control of the opening set.
Pope continued to build its advantage in the second set as it jumped out to a 6-2 lead. While Walton stayed close the rest of the set, the Lady Greyhounds remained in front the rest of the way to take a 2-0 lead in sets.
That was when Fitzgerald began to tweak Walton's offensive set, moving outside hitter Katherine Plessy to middle hitter.
"We moved Katherine Plessy to the middle, and that gave us better blocking in games 3, 4 and 5," Fitzgerald said. "The whole team adjusted well to the new offense."
The Lady Raiders showed new life at the beginning of the third set, using kills by Hannah Rooks and Kelly Murphy, as well as some Pope errors, to jump out to a 7-2 lead.
Walton led 9-6 and then increased its lead even more as it scored five unanswered points, including back-to-back aces by Marilyn Holmes, to boost its advantage to 14-6. The Lady Raiders stayed in front the rest of the way to cut Pope's advantage in sets to 2-1.
The fourth set also was a close-fought battle from start to finish. Walton and Pope traded the lead several times early in the set before a kill by Plessy gave the Lady Raiders a 12-11 advantage and the lead for good to tie the match at 2-all in sets.
It was all Walton in the fifth and final set as Murphy had four kills to help propel the Lady Raiders to a 12-3 lead and eventually, both the set and the match.
"Our passing wasn't very good in games 3 and 4," Pope coach Bryan Jones said. "Our passing was much better in the first two games, but it fell apart in games 3 and 4, and that was the difference. Walton served very well. Walton stepped it up in the last three games and it was like losing the first two games was a wake-up call for them. You have to give the credit to Walton, they played a great match."
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Great match, as usual. That Pope team is such a class act. They play so well as a team, defend like crazy, and it's no wonder they are ranked #6 in the country.
Walton showed some 'ring rust' in the beginning and made a number of unforced errors, but demonstrated their typical grit and hung in there. And the fans?!!? What an atmosphere! Pope's fans are usually the loudest but Walton's kids came out in force and the girls really seemed to feed off that energy.
Such a shame that these teams can only meet 1 more time this year (County Championships) but regardless, it'll be a match worth waiting for. Great job to all the girls and coaches - what a treat to watch.