Spartans open 4D tourney at Carroll County on Monday

Games are at the sites of the higher seeds, and the top four teams in the region are Jefferson Forest, Blacksburg, Carroll County and Bassett. Liberty Christian is fifth, followed by Salem, Amherst and William Byrd.

The Spartans come in at 10-9 after getting eliminated from the River Ridge District tournament on Tuesday. Salem opened with a win over Cave Spring in Salem Monday but lost to Hidden Valley in three sets on Tuesday in the district semifinals. The championship game is tonight at 6 pm at Hidden Valley.

Salem won on Monday, 25-19, 21-25, 26-24 and 25-22. It was a sweet win for the Spartans, who lost their final regular season game at Cave Spring last Thursday. The Knights won that one in three sets, 25-19, 25-19 and 27-25.

“I think we had a lot more hustle on Monday,” said Salem coach Russ Danstrom. “Last week at Cave Spring the girls walked into the gym thinking they had it won because we beat them the first time, but Cave Spring simply outplayed us. On Monday we raised our level of passion.”

Telia Harris had a terrific game on Monday with 20 kills, 18 digs and four blocks. Janae Blakeney had 26 assists and 11 kills while Tori Clinevell had 16 digs and three kills.

Maddie Hall, forced into a setter roll due to injuries, came up big with 16 assists to go with even aces and 10 digs. Alex Abbott had eight kills and Grace Hedge had five digs, three aces and two blocks playing their final home game. Azyah Burnette had three kills, four digs and two blocks, Tanner Rowe had 10 digs and Lindsay Frank had five.

Salem now has a week off between the loss to Hidden Valley and the regional game at Carroll. The Spartans didn’t play Carroll this year but Danstrom has talked with Glenvar coach Basil Conner, who saw his Highlanders eliminated from the Three Rivers tournament by Carroll on Monday night.

“They have a good record, but I don’t think they’ve played as tough a schedule as we have,” said Danstrom.