TA thumps Giants

Turner Ashby easily kept its undefeated record intact on Thursday night, dominating Waynesboro in three games.

The Knights won the non-district match 25-16, 25-11, 25-17 and in the third game knocked off 15-unanswered points during a 20-5 run.

Waynesboro challenged in Game 3 before the TA rally, after Latoya Diggs snuck in an ace by the Knights. Two bad Knight sets and a Jolie Dudly dink gave the Giants a 4-0 lead. Turner Ashby got on the board when a Rachel Binda attack sailed out-of-bounds, and the Giants steadily took advantage of several carries and net fouls by the Knights to take a 12-4 lead.

TA’s Hannah Shickel served six aces during TA’s monster rally in Game 3. Mara Hogan sparked the rally with a kill followed by a Shickle ace.

“I was thinking we needed these points to win, so I just had that goal in mind,” Shickel said.

The Little Giants scored only five more points in the game before Beth Rhodes put it away with a kill.

“TA is a good serving team and they run their offense well,” said Waynesboro coach Lori Aleshire. “When you get behind, it is hard to come back. Mistakes are contagious. They have a lot of seniors and a lot of our girls are sophomores.”

The Knights almost kept the Little Giants from scoring double digits in Game 2 after a Rebecca Claytor kill gave them a 22-4 lead. Shayla Jackson blocked a Knights’ attack to start a short run that included a Haley Quesenbery kill and a Katie Doyle kill to give the Little Giants 11 points.

“When we get out to a good start we are good, but then one person makes a mistake and then another,” Aleshire said. 

Waynesboro struggled to get by TA’s six-foot senior Nikki Newman.

“Having Nikki Newman on the team helps. Having a six-foot blocker that jumps as well as she does is a huge positive,” said TA coach Gina Troyer.

TA’s defense kept the Little Giants from getting any easy points and in the second game Waynesboro only scored half of its points from its offense. The rest came from either TA rotation violations, net fouls or stray shots.

“Our defense has carried us this season and last season,” Troyer said. “There are a lot of girls that take pride in their defense.”

The Little Giants will go back to the practice court today to prepare for another non-district match at Spotswood.