The Charlestown Lady Pirate Junior Varsity and Varsity teams participated Saturday in the annual New Washington Varsity and JV Volleyball Invitational at New Washington High School.  The four team Invitational featured teams from Charlestown, New Washington, Clarksville and Scottsburg.

The Charlestown Junior Varsity team finished their season in a very positive way, improving their regular season record and finalizing it at 15-5; and winning Saturday’s Junior Varsity Invitational Championship trophy.

The JV team dropped their first matchup of the day versus Scottsburg 16-25, & 12-25; however then beat Clarksville 25-23, & 25-22, and host New Washington 25-20, & 25-15.  “Our JV team has had a great season!  In the tournament, they had some hard fought matches, and we are proud of all their efforts.  Even when they are down, they do not give up.  They also had some players missing today, but everyone was able to contribute to help the team win.  Kaia Reid and Amelia McCoy had a good day hitting.  Adia Wells stepped up with her passing and defense and Hannah Vincent showed positive leadership out on the court”, commented Lady Pirate Head Coach Tammy Nuxoll.

The Charlestown Varsity team, two starters short, didn’t fair as well as their Junior Varisty division; finishing the Invitational in fourth place.  Varsity lost to Scottsburg 19-25, & 18-25, lost to Clarksville 18-25, & 20-25, and lost to host New Washington 15-25, 26-24, & 11-15.  “In the first match against Scottsburg, we started off with a good lead.  We had lots of energy and were playing hard, but we had a breakdown in passing and couldn’t stop them once they had momentum. In the second match against Clarksville, we started down 2-6. After that, we allowed them to get four or five points in each rotation compared to our one or two points in a rotation. We can’t win that way. In the second set, we were playing even with Clarksville until around thirteen points. Clarksville then served five in a row to put them up 13-18. Emalee Craven went on a serving spree to put us up by one 19-18, but we couldn’t hang on and ended up losing 20-25. The last match against New Washington we fought back to win the second set to win 26-24 and were up 7-11 in the third set when we let their libero serve for 8 straight points. Due to some players being gone, we had to make several adjustments on defense and passing today, but it doesn’t matter who is on the floor, we have got to be able to put a match away when we have a lead like that. Despite the loses today, I am proud of the way that players stepped up today to play some different positions”, concluded Coach Nuxoll.  Emalee Craven had a big day with 22 kills, 9 blocks 23 digs and 3 aces.  Bri Harvey had 8 kills and 8 blocks. Sidney Goedeker had 9 kills.  Kiersten James had 8 kills and 5 blocks.  Molly Braunecker had 30 assists, and Chrissa Ledbetter had 23 digs.

Charlestown will next host their Sectional round of the state tourney beginning October 20th.  The Sectional tourney pairs will be announced Monday morning and announced on PiratePride.BLUE when made official.

The Charlestown Lady Pirate Volleyball team capped off another busy week, making a long trip to South Central High School and defeating the Lady Rebels in four.  The win gives the Lady Pirates a three game winning streak; after also beating Borden and Rock Creek earlier in the week.  Charlestown (7-18) has won five of their last seven; as they prepare for sectional play they host in two weeks.  The Charlestown Varsity team defeated South Central 25-22, 16-25, 25-19, and 25-19 Thursday evening.  “This has been a good week for CHS volleyball.  We won all of our matches this week for a three game winning streak! We struggled some tonight with our passing and offense, but I give credit to our girls for sticking with it and how everyone had to step up at times tonight to help get the victory. In the first, set we started with a small lead, but let it slip away and let a few of their servers get on a serving run. We able to hang on and win the first set. The second set we just couldn’t get anything going. We continued to struggle passing wise and we weren’t communicating on defense. The third set we started at a 0-6 deficit before we started to play and turn things around. Hannah Vincent came in to help us with passing and defense. We were down 9-16 when Molly Braunecker gave us a great serving stretch where we scored eight points. Haley Vincent and Emalee Craven had a few serving runs to help us win the set 25-19. The fourth set we were more in control. We had a strong serving run by Emalee Craven, and Danielle Miles hit a few good line shots for kills. I’m proud of the way the girls were able to show how much they wanted the win by coming from behind to win the third set”, commented Lady Pirate Head Coach Tammy Nuxoll.  Charlestown stat leaders at South Central included Emalee Craven (9 kills), Kiersten James and Danielle Miles each contributed seven kills.  Molly Braunecker (11 assists); Bri Harvey (4 blocks); and Maddie Nuxoll and Hannah Vincent had eleven digs each.

The Charlestown JV team remains hot……defeating South Central Thursday evening 25-2 & 25-9 to improve their record to 13-4 on the season.  The Lady Pirate JV team have won nine straight contests and finished 5-2 in conference play this year.  “The JV had a very strong serving night. In the first set, Hannah Vincent served twenty-two straight serves and in the second set Amelia McCoy served twelve straight with Hannah Vincent following with seven straight points. Serving is crucial and tonight consistent serving paid off”, concluded Coach Nuxoll.

Charlestown Volleyball (Varsity and JV) will next be in action in the New Washington Invitational Tournament on Saturday morning, October 10th.

Charlestown Lady Pirate Volleyball (6-18) played some of their best ball of the season, defeating the visiting Borden Lady Braves in three; while winning their fourth of the last four outings.  The varsity team won 25-12, 25-23, and 25-19; and is available for archived listening at CPPSB.com and viewing via Pirate Pride Sports on Periscope.  Seniors Danielle Miles, Manager Nick Nuxoll, and Announcer Logan Johnson were all honored before the Varsity game as part of Senior Night festivities.  “I’m super proud of the way our girls played tonight especially our lone senior Danielle Miles.  Dani has worked really hard this season to improve her game and be leader for this team.  She has really been playing well late in the season” commented Coach Tammy Nuxoll.  Danielle Miles ended the night with four kills, passed well and led the team in digs with twelve.  “We came out strong in the first match, but Borden was also making several errors.  We talked in the huddle before the second set how we needed to prepare for Borden to make fewer errors and they did just that.  We continued to play hard, but found ourselves down 21-23 at the end of the set.  We were able to fight back and come back and get the win. The third set was close also, but we were able to keep our composure to get the win”, concluded Coach Nuxoll.  Emalee Craven had a good night, leading the team with nine kills, 4 blocks and 2 aces.  “It is a good feeling to see the team working together well at the end of the season.”

The Charlestown JV team defeated Borden in a best of three, 25-13, 25-10; and improved their record to 12-4 on the season.  “Our JV team is playing strong. They are on an eight match winning streak. Hannah Vincent had a good night serving and Kaia Reid had a good night offensively”, commented Coach Nuxoll.

The Lady Pirates return to the road Thursday at South Central.

Charlestown Lady Pirate Volleyball hosted the Rock Creek Academy Lions Monday evening in the CHS Sports Arena; marking a another milestone in the programs rebuilding.  The Lady Pirates, for the first time since 2011, shut out an opponent in a best of five match.  Charlestown varsity WON 25-19, 25-18, 25-19 over Rock Creek Monday evening.  “I am proud of our girls for pulling out the match in three sets tonight.  That was our first three set win of the season.  I love how this team supports each other even we have small break downs.  Each set we were neck and neck many times being tied around 17 points and we were able to put strong serving and consistent play together to make a surge at the end of the sets to pull us a head.  We had an extremely strong showing from our senior Danielle Miles”, commented Coach Nuxoll.  Miles finished the night with eight kills on thirteen attempts and only one error for a hitting percentage of .538 and ten digs.  Emalee Craven led the kill category with twelve kills on twenty-one attempts and four errors for an attack percentage of .381.  Emalee also had a strong serving night with eight aces.  Molly Braunecker and Haley Vincent also had a strong serving night with three aces each.  Maddie Nuxoll contributed eighteen assists and Chrissa Ledbetter had a good passing night.  “This was a great team effort!  We need to continue this intensity tomorrow night when we play on senior night against Borden”, concluded Coach Nuxoll.

The Junior Varsity team won their sixth straight Monday evening, defeating their visiting Rock Creek counterparts 25-21 and 25-11.  “Our JV got off to a really rough start in the first match.  We let Rock Creek set the tempo and we were not playing our game.  The second match we got off to a great start with the serving of Amelia McCoy and we were able to play more to our ability.  We are proud of this group of young ladies, commented Coach Nuxoll.  The Junior Varsity team record now stands at 11-4 (5-2 MSC) and will also host Borden Tuesday evening in the CHS Sports Arena.

Lady Pirate Volleyball (4-19 and 1-8 MSC) finished MSC play Thursday evening hosting the Warriorettes from Scottsburg.  The varsity team lost 18-25, 23-25, 20-25 against a good Scottsburg team.  “They have strong outside hitters and we were just not able to stop them tonight.  We passed a little better tonight but we were still giving them too many free balls and allowed them to get good sets out to their hitters.  One thing that I really like about this Pirate team is they do not give up.  They battle back even when we are a few points down.  Although we lost in three, we gave Scottsburg three good sets”, commented Coach Tammy Nuxoll.  Emalee Craven had ten kills tonight with five blocks and three aces and Kiersten James contributed four kills and two blocks. Molly Braunecker had eight assists and led the defense with 12 digs.

The Lady Pirate Junior Varsity team (10-4 & 5-2 MSC) won their sixth straight by defeating Scottsburg Thursday evening 10-25, 23-25, & 15-14.  “Our JV had a slow start to the night and really didn’t show up to play until the second set.  Luckily, we were able to turn things around and play like we are capable of playing.  It was really a total team effort tonight with everyone contributing a good dig, serve or well placed hit sometime during the the second two sets. Amelia McCoy and Hannah Vincent had a few good serving stretches in those last two sets to help us keep ahead in the game and Kaia Reid had some well placed tips. Our JV has had a great season and we hope to continue good play as we enter into next week” commented Coach Nuxoll.

The Lady Pirates will be in action again Monday hosting Rock Creek, Tuesday hosting Borden for Senior Night, and Thursday at South Central.

The Charlestown Lady Pirate Volleyball team hosted MSC rival Austin Monday evening in the CHS Sports Arena.  The varsity team dropped to 4-18 and 1-7 MSC losing to Austin 18-25, 20-25, 25-18, 17-25.  “We struggled tonight with our passing and defense.  Austin played very consistent and didn’t make a lot of errors.  We made too many unforced errors on passing and we struggled making adjustments when we weren’t hitting well”, commented Lady Pirate Head Coach Tammy Nuxoll.  Emalee Craven had a big night with 11 kills and one error for a hitting percentage of .526.  Craven also recorded five blocks, seven digs and four aces.  Bri Harvey contributed 8 kills and 6 blocks.  Maddie Nuxoll had a consistent night with thirteen assists, five kills, nine digs and two blocks.  Molly Braunecker led in the dig category with fourteen.  “We are going to have to be more disciplined on defense and pass better if we want to be competitive against Scottsburg on Thursday”, concluded Coach Nuxoll.

The Charlestown JV team improved its record to 9-4 & 4-2 MSC be beating their Lady Eagle counterparts 25-19, 25-19.  “Our JV team continues to win.  They continue to work together, and we are proud that they do not give up even when the match is close or if they get a few points behind”, commented Coach Nuxoll.

August 2012 marked the last Mid-Southern Conference win for the Lady Pirate Volleyball program; a drought that Charlestown ended Thursday evening with a varsity win over visiting Salem 22-25, 25-23, 25-23, and 25-17.  “We had a very rough start to the evening allowing Salem to serve eight straight points to start the night.  Charlestown (4-17 & 1-6 MSC) were down 10-20 before Danielle Miles went back and served eight straight to get us back in the game. We had some momentum going, but were not able to finish the first set for the win. The next two matches went back and forth and we narrowly won both 25-23. It is encouraging that we can be tied with a team at 20 or get a point down late in a set, but continue to fight until the end. The more opportunities we are able to finish strong at the end of the set the better. Late in the fourth and final set, we were able to secure a few points lead and keep it without allowing them to come back. Emalee Craven came back from being sick this week to earn fourteen kills and nine blocks. Danielle Miles had an all-around good night with six kills, seven aces, and ten digs. Molly Braunecker led in assists tonight with sixteen and also had 24 digs. Chrissa Ledbetter had sixteen digs. We hope to continue winning as we face Austin, another conference opponent, Monday night”, commented Lady Pirate Head Coach Tammy Nuxoll.

The Charlestown Junior Varsity continued their consistent play, beating their Salem counterparts 25-18 and 25-20; improving their record to 8-4 and 3-2 in MSC play.  “Although I think we struggled more than we should have tonight, it is encouraging that we may not have played our best match, but we were able to stay focused enough to get the win”, concluded Coach Nuxoll.

The Lady Pirates are back in action Monday against Austin in the CHS Sports Arena.