By Phil Major | Published Thursday, October 8, 2009
The battle for supremacy in District 6-2A varsity volleyball came down to a few points as Paradise and Peaster wrapped up the first half of district play Friday.
Both squads entered the contest with unbeaten league records, at 5-0, and it went down to the wire. Paradise squeezed out the first game 25-23, but the hosts evened things with a 25-20 win. Paradise retook the lead, again 25-23. But Peaster rallied 25-16 to send it to the decisive fifth game.
Peaster eked it out 15-12.
"We played with a great intensity and never gave up," Coach Susie Burt said of her 22-11 Lady Panthers. "It was a hard-fought game on both sides of the net."
Should the two battle through the second half of district without a loss, they will meet in Paradise Oct. 20, likely to determine the district crown.
Paradise got stellar play on both sides of the ledger, with 102 assists and 41 kills on offense, and 19 blocks and 218 digs defensively.
Casey Fletcher slammed 17 kills, Hannah Johnson 12, and Meg Arthur and Hannah Runnels five each. Arthur also did most of the setting, with 87 assists, and Fletcher put up 11.
Arthur blocked nine Peaster attempts and Fletcher six.
The back row kept the Panthers in it, with 84 digs by Candice McDaniel, 41 from Baleigh Newman, 36 by Gabbie VonHueval, Brandi Erwin 17, Johnson 11, Runnels 10, Courtney Andrews nine and Fletcher seven.
