Reagan volleyball scores big game
Reagan’s 3-2 win over Mount Tabor in the championship match of the WSFCS volleyball tournament on Tuesday meant more than just the fleeting celebration of a city-county championship.
What the win could foster should mean much more, Coach George Folger of Reagan said.
“There’s no question this will give our kids a lot of confidence,” he said.
Mount Tabor was the runner-up in the Class 4-A playoffs last season and was undefeated until losing the state championship match.
“They lost a lot of key players from last year but they are still a very good team,” Folger said. “A lot of our kids and their kids play club volleyball together and they are good friends off the court. It was a good intense match and both teams showed great sportsmanship.”
The teams alternated winning the first four games and the fifth game was tight most of the way through. Reagan eventually made the plays to win the final game 15-12.
“It was 11-11 and their middle power-tipped the ball down and Sarah Fitzgerald dove and had a one-arm dig,” Folger said. “She got back up and our setter (Mollie Southard) set her the ball and she got up and put it down. It swung the momentum a little. It looked like they had the point won and we made it. We went up 13-11 and were able to finish it off.”
The Raiders and Spartans are in the same conference now — the Central Piedmont 4-A — so they will play at least twice more.
“We have seen Mount Tabor play at a couple of scrimmages which was helpful for them to see that yes, they are beatable this year,” Folger said. “We weren’t sure we could beat them, but we thought we could compete with them and give them a tough match.
“The thing is, this was only the first one. We will play them twice more, maybe three times, and they are good enough to win the rest of them.”