Many of the goals this year’s senior laden Lady Pirate Volleyball team were accomplished, and on top of continued program growth and success in Head Coach Tammy Nuxoll’s fifth year.  Charlestown finished 21-10 this season, 18-12 last season, and 7-22 in her third season after over a decade of program losing seasons.  Not withstanding losing eight seniors this year, the current success is promising as evidenced by continued Junior Varsity success; and four players with quality varsity experience and talent.  Saturday morning, Charlestown’s season ended when falling to Brownstown in the semi-final round of the Silver Creek Sectional (10-25, 14-25, & 13-25).  The program did gain eight families of supporters that likely will continue to follow a program they believe in for years to come.  “It’s always difficult when your season comes to end.  Brownstown has a good program, and they were the better team today.  Despite the loss, I cannot say enough about this team and the senior leadership we had this season.  We will definitely feel the impact of losing these 8 seniors.  They have been the backbone of the program, and have left high expectation for those that follow them.  I’m proud of this entire team and the 21-10 record they earned this season”, summarized Head Coach Nuxoll.  Senior Kaia Reid led the offense against Brownstown with 9 kills and Hannah Vincent led the defense with 11 digs.  “This program will work hard to continue its positive success”, concluded Coach Nuxoll.  Photo courtesy of Jeremy Vincent.

The Charlestown High School Lady Pirate Volleyball team (21-9) advanced to Saturday’s Class 3A Sectional #30 Semi-Final round by dispatching Salem 28-26, 25-21, & 25-17 Tuesday evening at Silver Creek.  “I am happy that we were able to get a round one win under our belt.  This is the first post season win since I took over the program five years ago, so I am proud of our program.  We did not play our best tonight, but I’m glad we were able to stay composed when Salem came back to make the matches close in the first and second sets.  Salem’s #10 (Brown) gave our passers trouble with her serve, and Salem was able to cut into some large leads that we had, but we continued to hang on for the wins. We are still battling with a few injuries, so I’m hoping not playing again until Saturday will help us have more time to heal,” summarized Lady Pirate Head Coach Tammy Nuxoll.  Charlestown’s offense was led by Kaia Reid, who finished the game with 11 kills; and Fresham Kayleigh Smith who had 9 kills on the night.  Senior Maddie Nuxoll contributed 30 assists and 15 service points.  The defense was led by Senior Chrissa Ledbetter’s 17 digs; while Seniors Molly Braunecker and Hannah Vincent added 12 digs each respectively.  “We will have to put it all together and play our best in the next round against Brownstown”, concluded Coach Nuxoll.  Charlestown and Brownstown, who drew the sectional bye, will clash in Saturday’s 11:00 am Semi-Final game at Silver Creek High School.  If you can make it to the game, you can listen to it live at www.CPPSB.com.  Photo courtesy of Michael Thibideau.

For the second consecutive year, the Charlestown Lady Pirate Volleyball team wins the New Washington Invitational.  The Lady Pirate Varsity squad swept Switzerland County (25-19, 25-11), Clarksville (25-19, 25-21), and New Washington (25-23, 25-18) to successfully repeat; while the Junior Varsity squad, for the second time in three seasons, also took first place in the New Washington Invitational.  Saturday’s three wins, improves the varsity’s regular season record to 20-9; bettering last season’s 18-11 regular season mark.  The Junior Varisty defeated host New Washington 25-6, 25-5 to earn their trophy.  “I’m super proud of the Lady Pirates today, with both the JV and Varsity bringing home tournament championships at the New Washington Invitational.  We were without one of our starting middles and had a few others not at 100% today, so I’m really proud of how everyone stepped up and contributed to the wins.  Overall, our passing was pretty solid which allowed our hitters to take good swings at the ball.  Everyone had big plays when needed to help us win matches.  This is a selfless team who has done a great job of encouraging each other and that definitely was seen today”, summarized a proud Lady Pirate Head Coach Tammy Nuxoll.  The Lady Pirates logged a very balanced offensive attack Saturday, with each hitter making big plays when needed.  Senior Kaia Reid led the team with 26 kills and five service aces; Freshman Kayleigh Smith had 22 kills; Sophomore Hannah Thibideau contributed 17 kills and four blocks; and Sophomore Korea Tutt finished with 8 kills on the day.   Senior Maddie Nuxoll helped the offense with 62 assists.  The Charlestown defense had a good day, especially during the closest set of the day, the second against New Washington, “Sidney Goedeker made some great defensive plays to help us stay in the match”, added Coach Nuxoll.  Senior Sidney ended up with 15 digs.  Senior Chrissa Ledbetter led the defense with 28 digs, Senior Molly Braunecker had 22 digs and five service aces; while Maddie Nuxoll contributed 17 digs.  Senior Hannah Vincent also had 15 digs; while Senior Sam Crace added 12 digs.  “This was a total team effort and just what we needed leading into Sectionals on Tuesday against Salem”, concluded Coach Nuxoll.  Lady Pirate Volleyball will play Salem to open Sectional play at Silver Creek, Tuesday at 7:00 pm.  The Lady Pirates deserve a big crowd making the short trip Tuesday to help cheer them on; however if you absolutely can’t make it, Pirate Pride Sports Broadcasting will cover Tuesday’s game live beginning at 6:30 pm at www.CPPSB.com.

The Charlestown Lady Pirate Volleyball team improved to 17-9 on the season Thursday evening as they traveled to Elizabeth Indiana to clash with the Rebels of South Central.  Charlestown swept the Rebels 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, and 25-22) and found them to be an improved team this season compared to last.  The Charlestown Junior Varsity team was also victorious, wining 2-0 over the South Central JV team in the opener (25-9, and 25-24).  The win brought the Junior Varsity team season record to 9-8 going into next weekend’s New Washington Invitational.  “This was a good win to end a good week going 3-0.  We had some struggles early in sets one and three, but were able to keep our composure and regain the lead.  South Central had a lot of scrappy plays, but we were able to capitalize on their free balls and missed serves”, summarized Lady Pirate Head Coach Tammy Nuxoll.  The Charlestown offense finished with very balanced game stats, as Senior Kaia Reid logged 11 kills, Sophomore Hannah Thibideau 8 kills, and Freshman Kayleigh Smith seven.  Senior Maddie Nuxoll distributed 22 assists and led the defense with 17 digs; while Senior Chrissa Ledbetter finished with a close sixteen digs.  Seniors Molly Braunecker, Ledbetter, and Hannah Vincent also had a good night passing.  “The girls have had a long week with matches, including an emotional senior night, and finals this week.  This group has a difficult class load, and they always make me proud balancing a busy sport schedule and their school work.  They have earned a few days off before we go to the New Washington tournament next weekend”, concluded Coach Nuxoll.

The Charlestown Lady Pirates hosted Borden Tuesday evening and celebrated its nine program Seniors.  After an emotional Senior ceremony held between the Junior Varsity and Varsity matchups, the Lady Pirates swept the visiting Lady Braves 3-0 (25-12, 25-10, 25-10); improving their season record to 16-9.  “Senior night is always an emotional night, but we played focused and in control the entire match.   All eight seniors contributed to the win, and I’m happy that they ended their last home match on a strong performance. This group has put in a lot of time and effort to improve their skills over the past four years and are great role models for younger players. They not only excel on the court, but also in the classroom”, commented Lady Pirate Head Coach Tammy Nuxoll.  Senior Kaia Reid led the offense with nine kills; while Senior Maddie Nuxoll contributed 19 assists.  Sophomore Hannah Thibideau and Senior Molly Braunecker both had a good serving night.  Hannah had 21 service points with 2 aces and Molly had 6 aces.  Senior Chrissa Ledbetter and Molly Braunecker had a good night passing, as Molly finished the contest with twelve digs.  “Although we had our last home match, we are not finished meeting the goals we set at the beginning of the year.  We will come into practice to prepare for our match Thursday against South Central”, concluded Coach Nuxoll.  The Charlestown Junior Varsity team evened their record at 8-8 with a 2-1 (25-12, 17-25, 15-11) victory over Borden in Tuesday’s opener.

Charlestown Lady Pirate Volleyball moved to 15-9 on the season Monday evening after outlasting visiting Rock Creek 3-1 (23-25, 25-18, 25-18, and 26-24); the Lions dropped to 21-5 on the season.  “Tonight was a great match against Rock Creek with both sides leaving everything out on the floor.  I’m so proud of my team for the way they played together to pull out the win.  Each set was very close with some of the longest rallies we have had this season.  It was truly a battle back and forth for each point. Overall we had a decent night passing, and when we weren’t passing well Maddie Nuxoll, did a nice job of running down passes to put sets up for the hitters.  We had several good defensive plays by our backcourt.  In the fourth set, we found ourselves down 2-8, but everyone battled back and contributed for the win”, summarized Lady Pirate Head Coach Tammy Nuxoll.  Senior Kaia Reid led the offense with 13 kills while Senior Maddie Nuxoll contributed 33 assists and 23 digs. Senior Molly Braunecker led the defense with 31 digs.  “We look to bring the same intensity to our last home match for Senior Night, against Borden Tuesday night”, concluded Coach Nuxoll.  The Charlestown JV team battled in the opener but fell to Rock Creek 1-2 (25-22, 24-25, & 6-15).

The Charlestown Lady Pirate Volleyball program will celebrate their nine Seniors Tuesday evening, in the CHS Sports Arena, between the Junior Varsity and Varsity games of their last home game hosting Borden.  The Senior Ceremony will take place shortly after 6:30 pm.  “These Seniors have been the backbone of Charlestown Volleyball.  Their commitment and determination have helped turn the program around.  These ladies are just some of the best people I know”, commented Lady Pirate Head Coach Tammy Nuxoll.  During the tenure of these now Senior ladies, with the leadership of Coach Nuxoll, have brought the Charlestown Volleyball program out of years of one or two year victories to two years of nearly twenty win seasons.  The Pirate Pride Booster Club encourages all of Pirate Nation to attend, honor, and say thank you to this very special group of ladies.  Shown in the adjacent photo left to right (bottom row):  Molly Braunecker, Chrissa Ledbetter, Sidney Goedeker, and Kiersten James.  (top row):  Maddie Nuxoll, Hannah Vincent, Sam Crace, and Kaia Reid.  Not pictured is: Senior Team Manager Sam Tetrick.  The night promises to be very emotional; as well as, prideful for all Pirate fans.