It was evident in the way each game started – Nelson County is not happy about how its weekend went and the Governors are eager to meet up with William Campbell again and prove themselves. Standing in the way of that on Wednesday night in the Dogwood District semifinals was Altavista. Nelson walked its opponent into its building and marched it right back out as the Governors made quick work of the Colonels, 3-0, 25-17, 25-11, 25-17.
“It’s a different season when you’re in the tournament,” said Nelson coach Vicki Crawford. “We have to put the regular season behind us. It’s not about where you finish, it’s about how you finish. We want to close out the season strong.”
The Governors, who’ve now earned a Region B tournament berth, will now travel to William Campbell tonight at 7 p.m. for the Dogwood championship. The two teams have met three times, splitting the regular season games, and Nelson fell in the teams’ last meeting on Saturday in a tiebreaker for the regular season title.
In all three games Wednesday night, the Governors jumped out to 7-2 advantages. In the first set of the night, Nelson was up by as much as 13 and although the Colonels fought late to within five points, that was the closest they’d get all night in pushing the Governors for a game.
In game two, Altavista rode a bit of its late game one momentum and was able to maintain pace for the first half of the set. But after the score was 10-9 in Nelson’s favor, the Governors turned on the after burners and won 15 of the next 17 points to go up 2-0.
Game three mirrored game one in many ways. Nelson led by as much 11 early with the Colonels cutting to within five towards the end, but again, the Governors closed the deal and earned a Region B bid in the process.
In all three games Nelson was able stay on the offensive for the vast majority of the night, and with Ashley Wells hitting hard and accurately, the Colonels only runs came when the Governors were off cue.
“Whenever they returned the ball it was bump, set, spike,” Wells said. “We kept saying that to each other and we were able to do it and take them off their game and make them mad and get them to shank balls left and right.”
Wells had a game high 21 kills to lead the way for Nelson. Teammate Keona Loving had 32 assists. Brittany Crawford had nine digs and Madison Carter had six blocks.
The Governors clearly have a renewed focus as they go head-to-head against William Campbell again.
“I want to think of Saturday as a fluke,” Crawford said. “I don’t know what happened to us there. We weren’t the same team.”
Her players are on the same page.
“We’re getting on the bus, heading down there and packing their gym,” Wells said. “We’re going to be ready to play.”
