Marty Gordon
NRVsports@ourvalley.org
The Radford High School volleyball team capped an excellent season by bringing home the Class 2 volleyball state championship Friday at the Salem Civic Center. The Bobcats downed Poquoson 25-13, 25-27, 25-15 and 25-18.
Radford High School is the 2018 Class 2 state volleyball champion. Check out the sports section for more photos.
The win comes a year after RHS fell in last year’s title match. Assistant coach Meghan Mackenzie explained the source of some of the team’s postseason motivation.
“Every game from regionals on the girls got a bingo ball to decorate and we had a keyword for each letter in BINGO (B- believe, I- intense, N- nerve, G- grit and O-seize the Opportunity,” she said
Radford entered the contest with only one loss. They finish the season 21-1.
Adams said when the last ball dropped in the state title game, there was both a sense of relief and pure joy.
“I can’t personally explain the sense of relief when the last ball dropped, and we were on the winning side but even more to watch the pure joy on the girl’s faces has been priceless. The support from RHS and the Radford community had made it even more fun,” she said.
The team only has four seniors on this year’s squad, so the future looks bright. This year’s championship is the school’s second in four years.
Radford’s Emma Minnick was named both the Three Rivers District and regional player of the year. She was joined on the first team all-district and region squad announced Monday by Trinity Adams and Charli Dietz. Beth Roop was named second team all-district and all-region.