The Walton volleyball team will find a familiar foe on the other side of the net Saturday when the Lady Raiders attempt to win their third consecutive Georgia High School Association state championship.
Walton faces Region 4AAAAAAA rival Etowah at 6:30 p.m. in the finals at Marietta High School (1171 Whitlock Road). The Eagles have been one of the better teams in the state all season, with a 43-6 record, and they haven’t dropped a set in the state tournament.
But they’ve been no match for Walton (39-1), which has twice beaten Etowah by 3-0 scores, including the region tournament in October.
In fact, the Lady Raiders haven’t lost to a team from Georgia since 2014. Their only loss this season came in an Arizona tournament in late September to a team from California.
Here’s something else that illustrates just how dominant Walton, a longtime volleyball dynasty in Georgia, has been this season: The only other sets they’ve dropped also came to out-of-state teams.
Walton is also doing this with with only two seniors seeing regular playing time. Team leaders Gabby Gonzales, Riley Spurlin, Caroline Cheney, Reilly MacNeill and Jordan Rush are juniors.
The Pope volleyball team reached the Class 6A semifinals, but was ousted on Wednesday by defending state champion Harrison.
The Lady Greyhounds had their best finish since winning their last state title in 2011, going 33-9. While two of Pope’s top offensive players, Samantha Walters and Danielle Bissel, are seniors, there is plenty of talent returning. As a freshman, Stella Dees was second on the team with 284 kills.
In the Class 6A softball tournament in Columbus, Pope split opening-round games on Thursday. In the opener, Hallie Adams pitched a no-hitter as the Greyhounds defeated Evans 2-0. However, they lost to Cobb County rival Allatoona 1-0 in Thursday evening and move to a losers bracket game Friday afternoon, meeting Houston County at 2 p.m.
