VOLLEYBALL: Polk sweeps Patton to launch bid for conference crown

It’s one of the true, but strange, facts about Polk County volleyball.

The Wolverines have never won an outright Mountain Foothills 7 Conference championship. Polk shared the MF7 crown with Brevard in 2022, but even in last year’s run to the state 1A title, Polk County did not have a league trophy to call its own.

Changing that is one of this season’s goals for Polk, and the Wolverines took a first step toward that end Tuesday with a three-set sweep of Patton in the conference opener for both teams.

Polk (4-1, 1-0) claimed a 25-18, 25-12, 25-11 over a Panthers squad (7-2, 0-1) that had enjoyed ample success thus far this season. Patton also kept pace with Polk throughout much of the first set, but the Wolverines closed the opening stanza with a 7-3 run and dominated the final two sets for the win.

“These are the games that matter, and I felt that we set a good tone and message tonight,” said Polk County head coach Molly Hill. “It’s a strong way to start conference.”

Patton scored the first two points of the second set, and Polk County scored 17 of the next 20, building a 17-5 edge and cruising through the set. The Wolverines opened the third set with a 7-2 surge, led 14-3, and coasted home from there.

The margins gave Polk a chance to work on some offensive tweaks and honing its middle attacks. Outside hitter Mia Bradley had 11 kills, Sophia Overholt added nine, middle hitter Morgan Yoder posted eight, and fellow middle Kylie Lewis added four.

“We’ve really been working on that at practice, that setter connection,” Hill said. “It’s been hard and frustrating for Charley (Dusenbury). She really wants to get it for these hitters and she’s working really hard.”

Dusenbury had 30 assists, following her career-high of 50 in last week’s five-set loss to West Henderson. That loss was Polk’s first since early 2022 to a Western North Carolina team other than Brevard, but Hill thinks the setback will be a positive for the season ahead.

“The way that we fought back from an eight-point deficit in the first game, and we came back from two sets down, that’s hard to do,” she said. “So when you focus on things like that, and you look past the end score, they beat us by two points, and we fought like crazy, and that takes a really, really good time to do that.

“So we’re focusing on that and the fact that we’re going to see them and teams like tem again all season.”

Overholt had 15 digs and Bradley added 10 for Polk County, which is next back in action on Thursday, traveling to Hendersonville to continue conference play.

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