ALTAMAHAW — In dramatic fashion here in Altamahaw on Tuesday evening. the Chatham Charter volleyball team rallied for a wild 3-2 victory over Clover Garden in 1A Central Tar Heel Conference action.
Chatham Charter remained in second place of the CTH standings with a 7-2 mark after the hard fought victory while improving to 10-6 overall.
The upset minded Clover Garden club fell to 1-8 in league play after the heartbreaking defeat and to 2-11 overall.
From the outset it was evident that the Grizzlies didn’t read the press clippings and fully understand that they were the prohibited underdogs in the contest.
Clover Garden jumped out to leads of 7-2 and 15-9 before holding off Chatham Charter 25-20 in the opening set to take a 1-0 lead.
Another fast start in the form of an 8-0 run in game two propelled the hosts to a relatively easy 25-13 triumph to send the Grizzlies up 2-0 and in need of just one more win to clinch the upset.
Chatham Charter showed some resolve in game three, however, as the locals went to work with Morgan Lineberry and Breanna Spinks taking over at the net. Lineberry had three kills and a block in the set while Spinks added a pair of kills and two blocks as the Knights used a pair of 4-0 runs to surge to the 25-18 win to extend the match.
With the momentum, Chatham Charter took over in game four and raced out to a 6-1 lead before rolling to a 25-13 victory to even the match at 2-all.
The Knights finished off the Grizzlies 15-8 in game five behind a pair of aces from Sydney Bowman and another from Emerson Clark.
Lineberry end the day with 10 kills, two blocks, seven digs, two aces and five receptions while Spinks added 10 kills, two aces, 12 receptions, four blocks and seven digs.
Taylor Jones had a big night in the floor game with 12 receptions and 18 digs while Bowman chipped in 19 assists, eight digs, and six aces, and Clark 13 digs and 15 receptions, Emma Brown seven digs, Riley Bennett nine receptions, and Molly Wilson seven receptions.