Congratulations to our 2021 Varsity and JV Pope Greyhound athletes!

VARSITY

• Cooper Abney

• Becky Blaydes

• Ella Burris

• Ellis Crawford

• Kendall Cochran

• Brianna Dempsey

• Fifi Harvey

• Abigail Jhun

• Hallie Kaiser

• Dayla Ortiz

• Kaitlin Otto

• Ryan Pope

• Ayanna Rodgers

• Victoria Springer

JV

• Grace Bragg

• Lindsey Cooling

• Nikta Gerami

• Lilla Golden

• Bella Jessop

• Isabella Koo

• Riley Leach

• Taylin Lockhart

• Aila McLean

• Izzy Migchelbrink

• Piper Rieman

• Sarah Trowbridge

• Amanda Vlkovic

Congratulations to FIFI HARVEY for being named to the Ultra Ankle JVA 2021 Watch List of freshmen, graduating class of 2024!

Congratulations to KELLI KAISER for committing to playing volleyball at University of West Georgia!

Congratulations to LILY HARVEY for committing to playing volleyball at Appalachian State University!

EMERSON — Pope had its chance Saturday to win its second state title in a three-year span, but went up against a Buford team with more firepower.

Three different Buford players came away with double-digit kills on the way to a 25-16, 19-25, 25-13, 25-21 win over the Lady Greyhounds on Saturday in the Class AAAAAA state final at Lakepoint Sports Complex.

Ashley Sturzoiu had 13 kills to lead Buford. Mikayla Hayden added 12 and Kianna Polk had 10. And Sydney Austin was near the double-digit marker with eight kills, making it hard for Pope to keep the ball away from the most dangerous of Buford’s hitters.

Setter Grace Adams had 45 assists.

After finishing with 16 kills in Pope’s five-set win over Sequoyah in the semifinals, Ayanna Rodgers was held to six. She also added a solo block and two block assists. Sophie-Katherine Harvey led the Lady Greyhounds with nine kills, plus three aces. Sadie Woodworth had seven and Addie Eiland had six kills to go with five block assists.

Despite Pope’s struggles against Buford’s hitters, the Lady Greyhounds were blocking well enough to take the second set, and was four points away from sending the match to a fifth set with a 21-20 lead in the fourth.

Buford went on to take the next five points and the match that started with an Austin kill. Camryn Carlton pushed the ball over the net for a kill to give Buford a 22-21 lead. After Pope committed a hitting error, Austin tacked on two more kills to seal the victory.

Buford’s hitters set the tone immediately in the first set when two blocks from Sturzoiu and a kill from Hayden opened a 10-3 lead that the Greyhounds couldn’t recover from.

In the second half, it was Pope that made a run after clinging to an 18-16 lead.

It came on Harvey’s serve when she started it with two aces. Lily Harvey and Eiland combined for a block to make it 21-16. Pope held on to the lead before the Lady Greyhounds evened the match with a solo block from Rodgers.

But Pope could not carry that momentum into the third. Buford was clicking on all cylinders offensively to start the third set and a Polk kill broke the set open with a 13-6 lead. Buford went on to take the third set on a six-point run with three of them being Sturzoiu kills. Austin also had a kill during that run along with a block assist.

Pope came to play with a vengeance! After last year's defeat to Sequoyah in the Semifinals, we met up with them again, in the Semis, at their home gym. But this time WE WON! Now we're on to the State Finals!

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Help us to victory! Come and cheer for Pope!  5pm, Saturday, Nov 7th

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Where

Lakepoint Sports Complex
Champions Center
261 Stars Way
Cartersville, GA 30121

Tickets

$10.00
Tickets available ONLY at GoFan.co

Schedule

Champions Center
Court #8
11:00 am - 1A Private
1:30 pm - 3A
4:00 pm - 5A
6:30 pm - 7A

Court #17
12 noon - 1A/2A Public
2:30 pm - 4A
5:00 pm - 6A
 

Event Program
Digital event program (Produced by ScoreAtlanta) TBA

Video

Spread the word.  Family, friends and fans can watch all matches Live at NFHSNetwork.com/GHSA.  Subscribing to the Network for an all-access pass is the low price of $10.95 per month per 30-days of $69 for an annual pass. Digital copies / DVDs can also be ordered at NFHSNetwork.com. NFHS Network - High School Happens Here!

A rematch between two of the best teams in the state will determine a spot in this year’s Class AAAAAA championship.

Sequoyah beat Lee County in straight sets (25-13, 25-18, 25-21) Wednesday night in Leesburg to advance to its second straight state semifinal.

The Lady Chiefs will host Pope at noon Saturday. The winner will move on to face either Kennesaw Mountain or Buford for the state title next Saturday at the LakePoint Sports complex in Emerson.

It will be a rematch of last year’s state semifinal, which Sequoyah won in straight sets.

“I think both teams have a lot of angles to use for motivation,” Sequoyah coach John Edwards said. “Obviously, ours is they beat us this year, and I think they’ve got the final four rematch from last year on their minds.”

Sequoyah (34-2) fell in straight sets to Pope (29-1) in late August. The Lady Chiefs were missing several key players for the early-season matchup and should be at full strength this weekend.

Sequoyah, which extended its winning streak to 29 straight matches Wednesday, was multi-faceted in its attack against Lee County.

Paige Powers led the way with 14 kills and 10 digs, and she was joined along the front line by Sara Siefert (10 kills, 11 digs) and Catherine Brumbeloe (seven kills, two blocks, three aces).

Taylor Pecht led Sequoyah with 34 assists and five aces, while Skylar Martin added 11 digs and three aces.

Pope will be led by the Harvey sisters — senior Lily and freshman Sophie-Katherine — who are first and second on the team in kills.

The Lady Greyhounds are balanced, however. Four players have tallied more than 100 kills, five more than 20 aces, five more than 100 digs and two with more than 275 assists.

“(Pope is) a really good blocking team, and they also play really good back-row defense,” Edwards said. “You have to understand you’re not going to score every time you swing. I think patience is the biggest thing. You have to expect longer points and understand that we have to pass and defend well in order to score.”

Sequoyah will have limited capacity for Saturday’s match at the War Lodge due to social distancing, but Edwards said the atmosphere should remain potent with state semifinal energy.

“It’s not going to be as crowded as it was last year, but the good thing about our gym is that it’s small enough to make a small crowd loud,” Edwards said. “I think our girls are always going to be focused. They’re definitely up for it, but they also know it’s going to take a lot of hard work and us playing our best to advance.”

MARIETTA -- Pope defeated North Atlanta in three sets to earn a trip back to the Class AAAAAA semifinals.

The Lady Greyhounds, who won 25-16, 25-20, 25-16, will travel to Sequoyah on Saturday, with a trip to the state championship match on the line.

Pope started the first set strong after building a 15-7 lead and maintained the advantage the rest of the way.

North Atlanta jumped out to a 5-3 lead, putting pressure on the Lady Greyhounds, but Pope rallied back to take the set.

Pope jumped to a 6-0 lead in the third set and cruised to the closeout victory.

Sophie-Katherine Harvey had 12 kills and two digs, while Ayanna Rodgers finished with 11 kills and an ace.

Saturday’s match against Sequoyah will be a rematch of last year’s semifinal, a match the Lady Chiefs won.