Charlestown Varsity lost in four: 25-21, 16-25, 19-25, 16-25

Coach Nuxoll:  We played really well at times tonight. We had stretches of good defense and heads up plays along with good serving, but we also had some stretches of not being completely focused and had some miscommunication. We definitely had a night of ups and down. We had a 17-7 lead in the first set, but let North Harrison chip away at us until they were only one or two points behind.. We were able to hang on, but didn’t come out focused in the second set. North Harrison didn’t make as many errors and we were not able to put the ball way. We are overall better at passing this year, but we still tend to have pockets of poor passing that doesn’t allow us to run an offense. Emalee Craven led the offense tonight with 10 kill and 4 aces. Bri Harvey contributed 8 blocks and Maddie Nuxoll had eleven assists and six digs. Molly Braunecker added 4 kills and six digs. Chrissa Ledbetter had a good night passing. We will have to continue to put big plays together this weekend when we participate in the Jeffersonville Invitational.

Charlestown JV won in three: 21-25, 25-22, 15-3

The JV team improved their record tonight! They had a slow start in the first set, but were able to start a come back at the end of set with the strong hitting of Kaia Reid. They took that momentum to win a close second set ended by a big kill by Madison Christy. The third set they came off strong behind the serving of Amelia McCoy and never looked back. This team has done a good job of battling back all year!

Charlestown Varsity lost 19-25, 16-25, 18-25

Charlestown JV lost 21-25, 22-25

Coach Nuxoll:  I am extremely proud of the way the Charlestown Program played tonight. Christian Academy has a great program and there is a reason they were state runner up last year. Despite not having a great passing night, our girls hung in there and played with determination. They did not give up on plays and showed a lot of hustle. We were down in the first set and was able to come back off of some strong serving by Maddie Nuxoll. Molly Braunecker came up with some nice hustle plays on defense contributing eight digs and Emalee Craven led the offense with 5 kills and seven blocks. My hope is that we can continue to play at a high level for our match at North Harrison on Thursday.

Our JV team also played well tonight. There were times when they dug themselves in a hole, but I was encouraged at the way they continued to fight back and were able to keep the matches tight.

Charlestown Varsity lost 20-25, 26-24, 23-25, 21-25

Coach Tammy Nuxoll:  I was proud of the way we consistently played with heart all four sets tonight. Each and every set came down to the wire and the girls played hard until the end. I was pleased with the overall team effort and the improvements I saw from our last match. We did a much better job on serve receive and didn’t let too many ball drop on defense. Emalee Craven had a big offense night with 15 kills, four blocks and four aces. Southwestern had trouble stopping her when she was on the front row. Bri Harvey also contributed seven kills and four blocks. Molly Braunecker and Maddie Nuxoll contributed 13 assists a piece and Maddie also had four aces. Haley Vincent, Danielle Miles and Chrissa Ledbetter did a good job passing for us tonight and Haley Vincent led the team with ten digs.  This is a great group of girls who I hope will start believing that they can win.  We need to continue to work on not panicking when the match is tight.  As we compete with more teams in close matches, we need to stay calm and in control.  I hope we take the way we played tonight and continue to improve in our match against Silver Creek on Thursday.

Charlestown JV won 25-21, 25-21

Coach Tammy Nuxoll:  Our JV team continues to win matches. I’m very proud of their hard work and effort on the court. Amelia McCoy and Kaia Reid do a good job of leading the offense. Hannah Vincent contributes with leadership on the court and consistent serving. I’m very excited about what all these players will contribute to the Charlestown Volleyball program.

The Charlestown Lady Pirate Volleyball team traveled to Madison for a non-conference match-up Thursday night.  The varsity fell in their contest after the junior varsity improved their record to 3-2 on the season with 2-1 set win over their Cub counterparts (25-19, 20-25, 15-9).  The varsity fell, on their third straight night of competition, in three sets 15-25, 11-25, 14-25.  “We played better tonight than we did against Henryville last night.  Madison probably has the hardest hitters that we have seen this year.  We are still working on watching our hitters and lining up on their hitting arms.  At the beginning of the match our defense was not reading where they could see the hitters, but we made some adjustments and started to pick up a few more balls.  We had consistent serving and passed better than we did the night before.  This has been a long week for us with three matches in a row, but we have to stay mentally prepared to play in the Southern Indiana Invitational this weekend in Scottsburg,” commented Coach Nuxoll on the loss.  Lady Pirate stat leaders at Madison include Emalee Craven with five kills, Bri Harvey with seven blocks, while Molly Braunecker, Chrissa Ledbetter, and Dani Miles each contributed four digs.  Danielle Miles also had consistent passing tonight.

The Lady Pirate Volleyball team hosted the Henryville Hornets Wednesday evening in the CHS Sports Arena.  Charlestown lost the best of five game 17-25, 9-25, and 15-25.  Emalee Craven led the team with four kills and Bri Harvey added two.  “We played a good Henryville team tonight.  I thought we played pretty well in the first match.  We did a good job of watching their hitters and made sure we had blockers up to slow down their attack. We did not really show up in the second match and began to struggle more with our passing. We could not get anything going and really beat ourselves. This is the first match where we really struggled with passing”, commented Coach Nuxoll.  The Lady Pirates travel to Madison Thursday for a non-conference showdown with the Cubs.

The rebuilding of Lady Pirate Volleyball, under third year Coach Tammy Nuxoll, took an important step Tuesday evening while on the road at New Washington.  The varsity team, when the distance, and won three sets to two over the host Mustangs.  The victory marked the first varsity win for the program since October 1, 2013 (versus Borden); and only the fourth win in the past three seasons.  Charlestown defeated the Mustangs 25-16, 23-25, 22-25, 25-14,17-15 Tuesday evening.  “I am very proud of my team tonight for staying focused, playing hard, and never giving up”, commented Lady Pirate Head Coach Tammy Nuxoll.  “We played really well in the first set.  The setters distributed the ball well to a variety of players and the hitters did a good job of putting the balls on the floor.  The second and third sets were very close.  We couldn’t get a lead and New Washington was consistent with their serving and defense.  We would make a really good play and come back and miss a serve.  We were struggling to put several good plays together in a row.  We were gaining momentum in the third set off of the serving of Maddie Nuxoll, but just fell short.  That momentum allowed us to come back strong in the fourth set.  In the final set we started on a 5-0 lead off of the serving of Molly Braunecker to lose the lead later in the match. We were down 12-14, but Molly made a great dig to keep the ball in play and we were able to win the point. Tied 15-15, Haley Vincent was able to come in and make two key serves to help us end the match. I hope this win will give our girls confidence to know they can win in difficult situations”, concluded Coach Nuxoll.  Charlestown’s attack leaders were Emalee Craven with 11 kills and Bri Harvey and Kiersten James each with six.  Molly Braunecker led in assists with 16; while Emalee Craven also had 8 aces and Haley Vincent had 7.  The game was broadcasted by CPPSB, who named Molly Braunecker the Coyle Chevy, Buick, GMC and Coyle Nissan Player of the Game.  The Lady Pirates will need to keep their momentum going when they play a strong Henryville team Wednesday night at home.

The Junior Varsity Lady Pirates improved their season record to 2-1 Tuesday evening; when also defeating host New Washington 23-25, 25-07, and 15-08.

The Charlestown Lady Pirate Volleyball team faced off against Brownstown and Clarksville on Saturday in a Mid-Southern Conference double header at Clarksville High School. The Lady Pirates fell in both matches, but showed some improvement against the conference powerhouse of Brownstown. The Lady Pirates fell to Clarksville in the first match, 17-25, 22-25, and 12-25. “We got a slow start in the Clarksville game. It took us a while to start passing. When we are passing we are able to run our offense. I thought we played better in the second match but came up short. The third match we were flat. Overall, I saw improvements and we cut down on some of our errors. Emalee Craven led this match in kills with 9. Bri Harvey contributed 3 blocks and Chrissa Ledbetter led the team in digs with 7,” commented Head Coach Tammy Nuxoll. The second match, the Lady Pirates fell to Brownstown 14-25, 10-25, and 12-25. “Brownstown has a good program. I thought we had stretches of play where we played really well. We had several long rallies and we were able to win a few of them. I want our girls to realize that we can win and play with any team. Emalee Craven contributed 7 kills and Bri Harvey had 4. Molly Braunecker led the team with 9 assists. Chrissa Ledbetter had 8 digs and Haley Vincent 4. We have got to continue to work on passing and defense. We will need to perform well this week when we play New Washington, Henryville and Madison,” commented Head Coach Tammy Nuxoll. The Lady Pirates (0-4 overall; 0-3 MSC) will be back in action on Tuesday night, as they travel up 62 to New Washington. The match will begin at 6:00pm.