“If we don’t qualify for state, then we don’t consider it a successful season,” coach Camille Spradley said.
For coach Jamie Horton and the Cass Lady Colonels, they hope to make it a habit when it comes to qualifying for the Class AAAA state tournament.
It has been five-year wait since Cass made it that far.
“It would be great if we could make it [to state] a regular thing for us,” Horton said. “Our goal here is to build a winning, volleyball program. This season has been most successful, considering that it wasn’t too long ago that we only won two matches the entire year.”
Consider the season a resounding success for Cartersville as well, as the Lady Canes will host the Jackson Lady Jaguars in their first-round match of the state volleyball tournament. Cartersville is the No. 2 seed and Jackson is the No. 3 seed from Area 3-AAA in a bracket that also includes Blessed Trinity, the No. 1 seed, and North Oconee, the fourth seed.
Heading into tonight’s first-round match experience should be on Carterville’s side during its win or go home, best-of-five set match against Jackson. The Lady Canes reached the Elite 8 two years ago, but lost to the Ringgold Lady Tigers in the first round of the state tournament last season.
Along with experience, Cartersville brings with it a knowledge of what it is like to face “do or die situations.” The Lady Canes faced such a scenario after losing their opening match last Thursday to Ringgold in the double-elimination, Area 4-AAA tournament.
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