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.