By David Rogers. EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — It may have counted toward anything, but the preseason football game hosted by the New York Giants vs. the Carolina Panthers had its instructive moments. New York won, 21-19.

• Carolina’s starting quarterback, rookie and top pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, Bryce Young flashed abundant potential in the pocket as well as moving around behind the line of scrimmage. He only played two series, completing 3-of-6 passes for 35 yards, but avoiding a NY defense blitz and finding fellow rookie Jonathan Mingo for a 15-yard gain showed poise and showed off his mobility and athleticism.
• New York QB Daniel Jones looks to be making good on the Giants’ $40 million offseason investment to him at the helm of the team’s offense. He only played one series before giving way to backup Tyrod Taylor, but completed 8-of-9 passes for 69 yards, capped off by a short TD aerial to tight end Daniel Bellinger.
• Leading up to the Bellinger TD catch, there was a lot of Jones-to-Darren Waller, the former Raiders star tight end signed in free agency who caught 3-of-4 targets for 30 yards. The Jones-to-Waller combination could prove a good one in the upcoming regular season.
• The Panthers’ Jonathan Mingo was only targeted twice, catching just the one pass for 15 yards, but showed plenty of athleticism.
• Although veteran free agent signee Adam Thielen, D J Chark, Jr., and Mingo are listed as the top three receivers, former South Carolina wide receiver Shi Smith, picked up by the Panthers in Round 6 of the 2021 NFL Draft, got plenty of snaps in this game and responded with four receptions on five targets for 59 yards, a 14.8 yard average.
• New York’s much-heralded rookie Jalin Hyatt, drafted out of Tennessee in Round 3 of the 2023 NFL draft, got his first TD reception as a pro, a 33-yard post pattern bomb from Taylor.

For its third preseason game, the Panthers will face the Detroit Lions at Bank of America Stadium on Aug. 25, with kickoff slated for 8 p.m.

BONUS PHOTOS, COURTESY OF CAROLINA PANTHERS

By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — When a football game is decided by a failed 2-point conversion with no time remaining at the end of the fourth quarter, you have to figure it was a good football game. Watauga’s 13-12, season-opening win over T C Roberson (Asheville) at Jack Groce Stadium on Aug. 18 was an edge-of-your-seat thriller, but hardly a well-played game. Truth be told, it was more of a well-deserved “escape,” even if a victory.

The Pioneers’ football culture is built around three acronyms: WTW (work to win), TBM (team before me) and GPE (give perfect effort). Credit the third, by the Pioneer defense, for preserving the positive outcome.

Watauga head coach Ryan Habich said after the game that whatever else had transpired during the struggles leading up to the Rams’s 2-point conversion attempt (that would have won the game for the Rams, if successful), he asked them to remember GPE just before the final, decisive play. And, to be sure, in that moment they gave perfect effort to stop the Rams’ run up the middle, linebacker Jackson Pryor credited with leading the tackling brigade.

Early in the game, Watauga’s young offense (heavily sprinkled with sophomores and juniors having very little previous varsity experience) appeared to take control with Habich’s grinding, ball control rushing attack that serves two purposes: take time off the clock while keeping the opposition offense off the field.

Both of the Pioneers’ touchdowns came in the first half. The first one came came at the end of a series featuring sophomore running back Everett Gryder bulldozing his way up the middle or QB Maddox Greene slashing off tackle on keepers. They got the ball to the Rams’ 18-yard line before Greene found senior wide receiver Jackson Pryor curling toward the right side of the end zone. He lofted a high, arching pass that Pryor caught, leaping over the outstretched hands of Ram defenders as he backpedaled across the goal line. The PAT kick came up short, leaving the score, 6-0.

As it turned out, the Watauga student section’s early chant of “That’s too easy” was a bit premature. The visiting Rams responded with a march of their own, finished off with a 1-yard keeper by senior QB Lex Dinwiddie for the TD (kick failed), knotting the score at 6-6.

Before the opening quarter ended, Watauga tallied another scoring possession, capped off with a 2-yard run by Gryder for a TD and a successful Matthew Leon PAT kick to give the Pioneers a 13-6 lead.

The remaining three quarters of play were, for the most part, ugly football. There were fumbles, penalties and failed, short-yardage conversion attempts by both sides. On Watauga’s last possession, Greene (who is also a starting defensive back) took a hard hit and was forced to the sidelines on Roberson’s last, desperation drive.

The Rams quickly established momentum and took the ball inside Watauga territory, inside the 5-yard line. The Pioneers stopped Roberson’s third down effort, leaving the Rams with 4th-and-goal from the one-yard line and only a couple of seconds on the clock. Nearly everyone in the stadium expected the Rams to run senior running back Reno Jeter up the middle or perhaps Dinwiddie with a keeper off tackle. Watauga expected it, too, and loaded up the box.

It was one of those classic, good coaching decisions executed perfectly by the Rams. Instead of handing off the ball to a crashing Jeter, Dinwiddie faked the handoff and dropped back to find senior tight end Maurice Metz-Sacricson floating left, all alone in the endzone.

No one among the 2,000-plus fans packing the grandstands left their seats as Roberson head coach JD Dinwiddie and his staff pondered their next, win-or-lose decision: try for a PAT kick for a tie or go for two and win.

Coach Dinwiddie told High Country Sports after the game, “I thought we had the right call, but I will probably try to kick myself in the rear end at some point.”

And who among the onlookers could argue with the decision after the Rams’ last drive covered some 75 yards in less than two minutes? The Rams were moving the ball with relative ease, the best they had done all game.

Fortunately, for the Pioneer faithful, Pryor filled that gap in the line of scrimmage and the Watauga defense came through. The 2-point conversion attempt came with no time on the clock and after it failed, the triumphantly raised arms of junior defensive lineman Carson Gunnell-Beck as he looked back toward the Pioneer sideline and grandstands said it all: Watauga escaped with a win to open the team’s 2023 gridiron campaign.

“That was two really good football teams going head to head,” said Roberson head coach Dinwiddie. “We gambled on the two-point conversion and came up a half-yard short. We have a team that we feel can make some noise. It is always a challenge to play Watauga. Coach Habich and I are longtime friends, going back some 20 years. We like to hookup in the early part of the year and test each other out. Both of us have teams that can do really good things this year. Habich has created a championship caliber culture here. Tonight, both teams had some ball security issues. It was a game that could have gone either way.”

Habich was thankful for the win but knows his team has work to do.

“Roberson has a number of senior and returning players and we have a lot of neophytes within our program — and it showed with just two weeks of preparation,” said Habich in speaking with reporters after the game. “Even our upperclassmen guys are not experienced and that showed on the field. We did not play well. We played awful and you can quote me on that.”

That said, Habich suggested that he and his staff were prepared to see lackluster execution.

“I didn’t think we were going to be crisp offensively or defensively. But before the game, I challenged our kids to play with unbelievable effort even where mistakes were made, to give perfect effort and play with a great attitude. Roberson was favored to win but I challenged our guys to make it a fourth quarter game and we would find a way to win it. That is what we do here at Watauga,” said Habich. “As far as execution on the field, we have to clean things up. We have to build our depth at certain positions. Some of our guys have to figure out what they are doing because we had too many false-start penalties, too many times not lining up correctly, too many fumbles. We have to clean those up if we want to compete for a conference championship.”

Ever the mentor about life, too, Habich summed things up in saying, “The great thing about football is that there are teachable lessons. We are teaching 16-, 17- and 18 year-olds about how to respond to adversity and challenges. There may be 2,000 people in the stands who think they know everything, but 16- and 17-year olds are making the plays on the field, competing. There are teachable lessons. Every Monday at 7:15 a.m. the team meets and we address the mistakes, we erase them, then we move on to the next week. They will enjoy their weekend, then at 7:15 on Monday morning we will watch our mistakes. But at 4:00 p.m. on Monday our focus is on the huge rivalry game next week against Avery County.”

TEAM STATS

• Total Plays: WAT 56, TCR 47
• Total Yards: WAT 299, TCR 196
• Passing Yards: WAT 94, TCR 71
• Rushing Yards: WAT 205, TCR 125
• First Downs: WAT 17, TCR 10
• 3rd Down Efficiency: WAT 6-10 (60%), TCR 1-7 (14%)
• 4th Down Efficiency: WAT 1-3 (33%), TCR 2-4 (50%)
• Turnovers: WAT 2, TCR 1
• Fumbles Lost: WAT 2, TCR 1
• Interceptions Thrown: WAT 0, TCR 0
• Penalties: WAT 5, TCR 5
• Penalty Yards: WAT 42, TCR 17

SELECTED INDIVIDUAL STATS

Passing

• WAT – Maddox Greene: 5/7, 94 yards, 1 TD
• TCR – Lex Dinwiddie: 7/10, 71 yards, 1 TD

Rushing

• WAT – Everett Gryder: 28 carries, 126 yards, 1 TD
• TCR – Reno Jeter: 16 carries, 108 yards
• WAT – Maddox Greene: 15 carries, 67 yards, 1 fumble
• TCR – Lex Dinwiddie: 9 carries, 15 yards, 1 TD, 1 fumble
• WAT – Evan Burroughs: 1 carry, 12 yards

Receiving

• WAT – Jackson Pryor: 4 catches, 91 yards, 1 TD
• TCR – Maurice Metz-Sacricson: 5 catches, 41 yards, 1 TD
• TCR – Reno Jeter: 1 catch, 18 yards
• WAT – Morgan Henry: 1 catch, 3 yards

By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — It was a case of “bookends,” of sorts. App State field hockey played Liberty to a 0-0 draw in the second and third quarters on Aug. 18. The devil was in the first and final periods, where the visiting Flames scored three goals in each to register a 6-0 shutout against the Mountaineers at Adcock Field Hockey Stadium.

BONUS PHOTOS AT BOTTOM OF ARTICLE

New turf made for faster play and both teams took advantage. The Flames’ play was sharp for the early season, one- and two-stick passing whipping the ball from sideline to sideline and very decisive in search of space to attack. Especially in the first and final periods, the Mountaineers’ fell victim to stick-handling errors that frequently cost them possession.

“Liberty is a very good team and we relished the opportunity to play against them,” said Mountaineer defense specialist and team captain Grace Ball afterward. “We are learning. We are working on things. Being able to play against this kind of competition in an early season exhibition match makes us better prepared for the upcoming season.”

Mountaineer head coach Emily Dinsmore, who is a Liberty alum and knows the Flames coaching staff very well, seemed pleased with the growth of her Mountaineers.

“We are trying to play at a really fast pace and matching up against an exhibition opponent like Liberty is a real test. I thought we held up pretty well in the middle part of the game. Not only did we not allow any goals after those three in the first quarter, but in the second period we had three shots on goal to their one, so we were doing a better job in attack, too. We just have to sustain that kind of performance through all four quarters,” said Dinsmore.

SCORING

First Quarter

• LIB (7:03) – Goal by Pima Iturraspe, assist by Lexi Hosler
• LIB (11:53) – Goal by Jodie Connolly, assist by Reagan Underwood and Bethany Dykema
• LIB (14:11) – Goal by Ellie Livingston, assist by Martu Cian

Fourth Quarter

• LIB (45:57) – Goal by Kyleigh Faust, assist by Bethany Dykema
• LIB (51:26) – Goal by Pima Iturraspe, assist by Bethany Dykema
• LIB  (52:23) – Goal by Ellie Livingston, assist by Lexi Hosler

App State has one more exhibition match, Aug. 20 at Wake Forest, before consecutive matches in Towson, Md., against Towson University on Aug. 25, followed by a match against Georgetown at Towson on Aug. 27. They return home to host Drexel University on Sept. 1 at Adcock Stadium.

BONUS PHOTOS

Special Report from App State Sports. WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — App State went toe-to-toe against 2022 NCAA tournament qualifier Wake Forest in a 1-0 loss. It was the Mountaineers’ season-opener, on Oct. 17 at Spry Stadium.

Fifth-year senior goalkeeper Kerry Eagleston led the defensive effort with six saves, including several highlight-reel efforts, playing back in her hometown of Winston-Salem. The App State defense as a whole limited the Demon Deacons to just seven shots on target, and forced turnovers in the midfield throughout the match.

The lone blemish on the evening came in the 25th minute, when a Wake Forest cross attempt was blocked, but ricocheted into the back of the net.

The Mountaineers had several quality scoring chances in the opening 45 minutes. Just two minutes into play, Sarah Widderich had an opportunity inside the Demon Deacon box off of a Mountaineer forced turnover. Midway through the half, the Deacs narrowly prevented an own goal, clearing a ball off the goal line.

In the second stanza, freshman Olivia Simon, who earned a start in her first career match, drove a shot toward the top of the goal but the Wake Forest goalkeeper got a glove on the ball, deflecting it over the crossbar in the 55th minute. Summer Bowman also saw action in her collegiate debut, tallying a shot on goal.

Stephanie Barbosa put pressure on the Demon Deacons in the second half as well. In the 60th minute, Barbosa turned a two-on-one into a shot for Izzi Wood. Then, with seven minutes to play in the match, ripped a one-timer on goal off of an App State free kick.

Barbosa, Shannon Studer, Mumu Guisasola, Kaitlyn Little, and Skyler Walk played all 90 minutes for the Mountaineers.

App State returns to Boone on Sunday where they will face off with George Mason in their home-opener at 1 p.m. The match will be broadcast on ESPN+.

By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — In soccer terms, it was a thing of beauty. Just minutes into the Watauga men’s soccer match vs. West Caldwell at Jack Groce Stadium on Aug. 16, Curtis Sevensky gathered the ball along the right sideline, then deftly lofted a crossing kick. In one fell swoop, teammate Micah Duvall nailed the ball on the fly from about 15 yards out in front of the left post, pounding the ball past the stunned goalkeeper for the first of Watauga’s eight goals.

As it turned out, that goal set the tone for the entire match. The final score was 8-0, but maybe we should give the Pioneers another half point because a ninth tally hit the back of the net while the final horn to end play was still blaring, even if the horn sounded before the shot was taken.

“I am very pleased, obviously, after all the hard work just two days ago in earning a draw against highly ranked Ardrey Kell, at their field in 100-degree temperatures,” said Watauga head coach Josh Honeycutt. “Coming into this game, our objective was to not take a step back but to continue to get better, to build. Regardless of who we play, that is the message we preach. It doesn’t matter who your opponent is, that’s the guy you have to beat. We did that today and I am super proud of our guys’ mentality knowing it is going to take our best effort to win.”

Honeycutt added that it is always nice to play on your home turf, but was deservedly guarded in facing West Caldwell.

“They beat us down there last year,” he recalled. “We may not have given them our best game for whatever reason, but they beat us. We weren’t sufficiently prepared so I chalk it up as an early season blunder.”

Honeycutt described the mentality of his team as “… hungry to win and wanting to destroy every opponent.”

As you might expect in an 8-0 drubbing of an opponent, several Watauga players stood out on the day, including seven players getting goals and six assists spread among five players, but perhaps none came to the fore with consistently good play than freshman newcomer Gavin Lapinsky, who was one of those seven players finding the back of West Caldwell’s net.

When Honeycutt was asked about Lapinsky, the coach said, “He’s becoming a great player. He has lots of skill and puts in a lot of hard work. And, frankly, he has lots of soccer knowledge for his age. He has the ability to know where to be and when to be. He is just a really intelligent, hard-working player who puts himself in the right position, with a desire to be the best he can be.”

Watauga soccer has two home matches next on the team schedule, vs. West Forsyth (Clemmons) on Aug. 21 and Forbush (East Bend) on Aug. 24. What follows are four successive road matches at East Lincoln (Denver), R J Reynolds (Winston-Salem), Mt. Tabor (Winston-Salem) and A C Reynolds (Asheville).

After two non-conference home games vs. Lake Norman (Mooresville, Sept. 12) and Cox Mill (Concord, Aug. 14), Watauga opens Northwestern Conference play at home vs. South Caldwell on Sept. 20.

WATAUGA SCORING VS. WEST CALDWELL

• Alex Aguilar (2 goals)
• Micah Duvall (1)
• Ayden Johnson (1)
• Jossue Galan (1)
• Kohen Pitts (1)
• Gavin Lapinsky (1)
• Jack Wilson (1)

ASSISTS

• Thomas Moss (2)
• Curtis Sevensky (1)
• Gavin Lapinski (1)
• Lars Best (1)
• Ben Myers (1)

DUELING CAMERAS

BONUS PHOTOS

By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — Scoring was balanced for Watauga men’s soccer junior varsity on Aug. 16, as the Pioneers routed West Caldwell JV at Jack Groce Stadium in “mercy rule” fashion, 9-0. With eight goals in the first half, Watauga added the ninth in the first two minutes after intermission to abbreviate the game.

Watauga JV’s Lucas Straub got a hat trick, scoring three goals, while Quincy Honeycutt sent two into the back of the net, with the others spread among multiple guys.

“It was balanced, to be sure,” said Watauga JV head coach Vern Collins afterwards. “The beauty of this game… It was a shared effort. We had multiple guys score, which is what we like.”

Collins said that in spite of the 9-0 result, there were areas of disappointment.

“I am actually thankful that we didn’t get that ninth goal in the first half,” said Collins, “because it gave us a chance to have an instructive conversation at halftime. These guys always want to win by the mercy rule, beat a team by nine points and end the game early.  But in light of that, we don’t want to be a team that just hunts for goal. We want to play Watauga soccer, work the ball around and look for opportunities and play together as a team. In this match, we went away from that as the first half went on, although the goals kept coming. So halftime gave us a chance to get back to creating quality opportunities.”

Watauga soccer has two home matches next on the team schedule, vs. West Forsyth (Clemmons) on Aug. 21 and Forbush (East Bend) on Aug. 24. What follows are four successive road matches at East Lincoln (Denver), R J Reynolds (Winston-Salem), Mt. Tabor (Winston-Salem) and A C Reynolds (Asheville).

After two non-conference home games vs. Lake Norman (Mooresville, Sept. 12) and Cox Mill (Concord, Aug. 14), Watauga opens Northwestern Conference play at home vs. South Caldwell on Sept. 20.

By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — As a season opener, it doesn’t get much better for Watauga women’s tennis team than its 9-0 sweep of East Wilkes on Aug. 16 — unless, of course, you are new head coach Phoebe Boeschen.

“I am very proud of our girls for the first match of the season,” said Boeschen. “Obviously, there were a lot of nerves going into it. A 9-0 team score sounds dominating, but several of those matches were much tighter. That said, I am really proud of the outcome.”

With six seniors on the team last year graduating, Boeschen knows that she is inheriting a lot of new faces to the program and only a couple with much varsity playing experience.

Among the veteran returnees is junior No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles player, Siena Davidson, who dispatched East Wilkes’ No. 1 singles player, sophomore Ava Darnell, 6-2, 6-2.

Moving into the No. 2 singles slot for the season opener was Watauga freshman Addison Cohen. She had more of a tussle vs. the Cardinals’ No. 2, freshman Emerson Simmons. The match was more of a see-saw battle, with Cohen taking the first set, 6-1, but Simmons rallying to earn the second set, 6-7, including a 3-7 tie breaker. Cohen rebounded with a tense, 10-8 third set victory.

Boeschen is building upon on strong Watauga program led previously by head coach Jennifer Pillow. She brings an accomplished playing and coaching pedigree of her own to the Pioneers.

Boeschen played high school tennis for Rock Ridge HS in Columbia, Mo., mentored by head coach Ben Loeb, who was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2021. Having won 1,212 dual meets and 19 state championships, he is regarded as the winningest tennis coach of all time in Missouri.

Wataiga’s new head coach played college tennis at Missouri State University, then moved into the coaching ranks as a graduate assistant at Southeast Missouri State, then high school coaching stops where she mentored several doubles team, women and men, to high finishes at the state level.

“I am really excited to be a part of this program,” said Boeschen. “There are a lot of new faces — we have 24 student athletes competing for spots — but these girls are very athletic and they work really hard at their tennis. I am very grateful for this opportunity.”

FULL TEAM SCORES

Singles

• No. 1: Siena Davidson (WAT) def. Ava Darnell (EW), 6-2, 6-2
• No. 2: Addison Cohen (WAT) def.  Emerson Simmons (EW), 6-1, 6-7 (3-7), 10-8
• No. 3: Larson Berry (WAT) def. Valerie Schubart (EW), 6-2, 6-3
• No. 4: Kennedy Moore (WAT) def. Kali Cook (EW), 6-4, 6-3
• No. 5: Fiona Russell (WAT) def. Diella Ward (EW), 6-2, 6-1
• No. 6: Abbi Shuman (WAT) def. Kelsea Absher (EW), 6-4, 6-4

Doubles

• No. 1: Davidson-Cohen (WAT) def. Darnell-Simmons (EW), 8-1
• No. 2: Berry-Moore (WAT) def. Schubart-Cook (EW), 8-2
• No. 3: Russell-Shuman (WAT) def. Ward-Absher (EW), 9-8 (7-1)

By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — At first glance, Watauga Volleyball’s 3-0 sweep of Southwestern Randolph (Asheboro, N.C.) on Aug. 15 may look like it was a proverbial walk in the park, but the set scores suggest otherwise: 25-23, 25-19, 25-21. In short, it was exactly the kind of early season test Pioneer head coach Kim Pryor was hoping for when scheduling the Cougars as the 2023 season opener.

“Southwestern Randolph is a solid program with a great coaching staff, so you know coming in they are going to be a strong adversary,” Pryor said after the match. “Blocking was critical this evening and at critical moments. Southwestern Randolph had a great attack all the way across the net. Our blockers responded and our defense responded. It was fun to watch.”

There were thunderous kill shots from both sides of the net and courageous digs on the other end of them. In between, there were dramatic saves, timely passes, and perfect sets. It was as entertaining a high school volleyball match as anyone could imagine near season’s end, much less at the beginning of the 2023 Watauga campaign.

And it was hardly surprising, given the programs’ respective pedigrees. Under the direction of head coach Darby Kennedy since 2013, Southwestern Randolph has developed into a North Carolina volleyball power. As late as 2020, the Cougars were ranked in the top 25 in the state at the 3A classification, according to data maintained by MaxPreps. Declining school enrollment moved the school down to 2A in 2021, when NCHSAA did the periodic realignment of more than 500 schools in North Carolina — and the Cougars promptly won the 2A state championship title, then carved a path to the 2A state semifinals a year ago.

Watauga has long been an accomplished, 3A/4A contender under the leadership of Pryor (2007, 2008, 2009; 2020-present) and Kris Hagaman (2010-2019), including seven consecutive 3A/4A Northwestern Conference championships and deep runs into the state playoffs, including a No. 3 finish in the North Carolina 4A West Division in 2022 with a 23-3 record. Pryor and her staff have long been involved in the High Country region’s youth volleyball programs that eventually lead to the high school team.

BACK AND FORTH

Both the first and third sets of this contest were nailbiters. Every time Watauga looked like they might pull away, Southwestern Randolph would rally to even the score, even poking ahead for a point or two before the Pioneers finished with a flourish. In the second set, the Cougars jumped out to a 9-4 advantage before Watauga began to nibble away at the deficit, then run away with the set.

Even after losing all-District performers Caroline Farthing and Brooke Scheffler and other key senior performers to graduation last spring, Watauga seems to have a never-ending supply of athletes in the development pipeline to sustain the winning culture.

“I’ve been playing volleyball here since the 4th grade, so six or seven years now,” explained Brooklyn Stanbery, one of the latest big hitters to grace the Watauga volleyball stage. “We work hard all summer. Our team is always like a family. We always have good relationships with one another. We are all friends even outside of volleyball. We spend quality time together and that helps us be better together on the court.”

Stanbery, a senior outside hitter, recorded 17 kills in the three sets vs. Southwestern Randolph, including a whopping 0.444 hitting percentage and a 47.2 percent kill percentage out of 36 kill attempts. She plays much taller than her height might otherwise suggest.

“I am not as tall as most hitters, so I have to get up there. I do a lot of weight training and conditioning. A lot squats, a lot of lunges, and a lot of jump roping,” Stanbery shared. “I have to be prepared to do my part in the attack. There are a lot things that happen before the kill shot, things that others on the team are accomplishing before the ball gets to my opportunity. Someone has successfully received a serve or dug out an opponent’s kill shot, keeping the ball in play. Someone has passed the ball to one of our setters. Then that setter has put the ball in the best position possible for me to go for the kill shot. I have to be prepared to do my part in that entire sequence.”

Watauga libero and designated setter Evie Robbins, also a senior, is also a part of that sequence. For her contributions, which included two service aces and 16 digs, Robbins was named “Player of the Match” by the coaching staff.

“Good play results from a lot of repetitions,” said Robbins. “Every single day in practice. It might get boring but it really does help. Serving every day. Passing every day. Setting every day.”

Stanbery was not the only big hitter against Southwestern Randolph. Emma Pastusic, just a sophomore, recorded 18 kills in 34 attempts (52.9 percent).

On Aug. 12, at the scrimmage tournament hosted by Catawba College, Watauga’s head coach told High Country Sports in an interview that one of the Pioneer varsity’s better skills in 2023 was blocking. They needed every bit of that against Southwestern Randolph.

Pryor deftly deflected a question about individual Pioneers for this match.

“Honestly, the strength of this team is the team,” she said. “We have people doing special things in every single position, throughout the rotation. When you have that, it is hard on the opposing teams because they can’t pinpoint a weakness. No matter what kind of (talent) we had in the past and has moved on, these girls have the same goals and they work hard. The next generation of girls have stepped in and kept up. We are not missing a beat from last year and it is amazing. I am really, really proud of the work they put in and the way they are stepping onto the court with confidence. They are playing their hearts out.”

INDIVIDUAL STAT LEADERS

• Brooklyn Stanbery: 17 kills, 1 service ace, 13 digs, 20 serve receives
• Emma Pastusic: 18 kills, 1 block assist, 4 digs
• Evie Robbins: 2 service aces, 16 digs, 2 assists, 17 serve receives
• Madi Combs: 23 assists, 8 digs, 1 service ace
• Olivia Kop: 3 service aces, 6 digs
• Kasey Gragg: 2 kills, 1 block assist, 3 serve receives
• Lainey Gragg: 16 assists, 7 digs
• Kora Knight: 2 kills, 2 block assists
• Kate McCullough: 1 serve receive, 2 block assists, 2 kills
• Sara Marlowe: 1 kill, 1 service ace, 2 block assists, 1 dig
• Grace Tillery: 12 serve receives, 1 solo block, 2 block assists, 1 kill

BONUS PHOTOS

By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — Sophomore Lilli Combs and freshman Ava Zaragoza combined for 28 assists — 14 each — on Aug. 15, helping lead the Watauga Pioneers junior varsity to a decisive 2-0 sweep of Southwestern Randolph on Aug. 15, 25-10, 25-16.

Taking advantage of the setters’ deft work were the Pioneer JVs’ big hitters on the day, Gracyn Blanton (13 kills) and Athena Elliott (8 kills).

Sophomore Lilli Combs recorded three service aces over the course of the two sets, her work behind the service line helping the Pioneers jump out to a decisive lead with consecutive point runs in the first set.

Watauga head coach Casey Gragg told High Country Sports after the match that her staff was able to get all eligible JV players onto the court during the contest and that was reflected in digs, where four Pioneers tied for team-high honors, with four, including sophomore Bella Wade, freshman Zaragoza, sophomore Combs, and sophomore Lillon Henline.

The JV team’s performance vs. Southwestern Randolph was decidedly more polished than what they were able to do four days earlier at the Catawba College scrimmage tournament.

“At Catawba,” explained Gragg, “we specifically used three or four different rotations. I wanted to see how the girls paired with each other as setters and hitters. We wanted to see which combinations of passers, setters and hitters were likely to be more successful when on the floor at the same time.”

The scrimmage experimentation paid off because, based on their performance against the Cougars in the official season opener, Watauga’s JV team clicked — to the point they might well have defeated many of the varsity teams in the Northwestern Conference.

“These girls already have the kind of ‘gel’ that we might ordinarily see halfway through the season,” said Gragg. “I am really proud of how they have worked together and gained the kind of court confidence that should allow us to compete very well in our matches this year.”

Outside hitter Gracyn Blanton may well have surprised even herself with her jumping ability, allowing her to drive down on the ball while going over the net.

“I don’t even know where that came from,” said a smiling Blanton of the leaping ability demonstrated in this match.

“She works hard,” interjected her coach, Gragg. “All the girls work so hard. They are very disciplined in their approach to playing volleyball and they are very coachable, just like Gracyn, to learn the skills and work at them repetitively over and over again to the point where they are exhausted, but they don’t give up.”

Having played volleyball since the 4th grade, Blanton has learned to love the game.

“Especially here, there are so many people supporting what we do,” said Blanton of the game that gets her competitive juices flowing. “It is the environment here, but it is such as fascinating, fast-paced game. You are into every point and every play.”

Even for her young age, as a freshman, Blanton already wonders what the future holds. Certainly she wants to play varsity volleyball at Watauga, but that is as far as the “next level” she wants to think about at this point.

“Volleyball is so competitive in college and I don’t know if I will be there (skill-wise). Maybe. But we will see,” she said.

KEY INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES

• Gracyn Blanton: 13 kills, 2 digs
• Ava Zaragoza: 14 assists, 4 digs
• Lilli Combs: 14 assists, 3 service aces, 4 digs
• Athena Elliott: 8 kills
• Rylee Mitchell: 5 kills, 1 block, 1 service ace
• Bella Wade: 1 assist, 4 digs
• Lillon Henline: 4 digs
• Sofie Wade: 4 kills
• Sophie Kop: 1 service ace, 3 digs

BONUS PHOTOS