Green Hornets sweep Buffalo Gap

JIM SACCO / News Virginian
Published: October 16, 2007

FISHERSVILLE - Forget the whole "Superman" thing and the not-so-easy-listening music that sparks the Wilson Memorial volleyball team.

There's something else on the Fishersville court that has been more than deadly to opponents - the Green Hornets' unique blend of having fun with intensity.

They don't have a name for it yet, but it played a major role in a rare Monday night Shenandoah District contest against Buffalo Gap. And that smite-them-with-a-smile approach helped sink Buffalo Gap 25-9, 25-19, 25-13.

"Hey, whatever they're doing is working for them, they can keep on doing it," said Wilson coach Kim Claytor. "I'll come up with a name for it."

Whatever the Hornets decide to call it, it may be fun for Wilson, but it wasn't all good times and smiles for a Bison team that found itself on the receiving end of a 15-kill attack from Kala Guy and a five-ace performance out of the just-back-from-injury Noel Bartley.

Eleven blocks from Guy didn't hurt either.

"We developed a way, sometimes it gets us in trouble, but not usually, where we can have fun and play the game at the same time," Guy said.

There was never any doubt who was having more fun during the three-game affair that gave Wilson its sixth district win in seven tries. After building a 2-0 lead over the Bison (7-9, 3-4 Shenandoah), Wilson used Bartley's serving for the death blow to start Game 3. Her three straight aces set the tone for a decisive game that ended the whole match in little over an hour.

"She's doing amazing," Guy said of Bartley. "She's really picked it up after she came back from her [finger] injury."

Bartley, who finished the match with 17 digs to go with her full house of aces, said she's just a cog in the wheel that powers the Wilson (13-4, 6-1 Shenandoah) ride along.

"It makes me confident," she said. "I just do what I can to help the team."

After building an 8-1 Game 3 lead helped along by three Bison errors, back-to-back kills from Alison Wilkins, pulled Gap to within three points at 8-5. That's when Guy went back to work, pock marking the beat-up Wilson gym floor with a kill and blocking a Wilkins kill attempt for a point.

With Wilson holding onto a comfortable 10-5 lead, Tiffany Crosby added a kill and two more Bison errors brought out the Hornets' front-row smiles.

Guy's final kill gave the Hornets a 23-11 lead before a service error from Gap ended the match.

"I don't know what to say, honestly," said Gap coach Sara Botkin. "Wilson is awesome, they're scrappy. And we just needed to play it out more and get the ball up in play more.

"They just didn't do it. But the girls know what they've got to do, they have got to win the next three games," Botkin said. "And they can do it."