After another impressive season, the Morgan County volleyball team came up short in the Elite 8 of the GHSA Class 3A state playoffs last week.
The Spike Dogs fell to its local rivals, the Warriors of Oconee County, in four sets last Wednesday – the team the Spike Dogs defeated in last year’s state championship game.
Head coach Kat Goodwin’s team started the match off well, winning the first set 25-22, but it wasn’t enough to hold off the Lady Warriors. Oconee County won the next three sets 25-14, 25-21, and 25-15, respectively.
The loss was Morgan County’s first since losing to Oconee County earlier this month. Before that, the Spike Dogs' last defeat came at the hands of Sandy Creek back in September.
Even though Morgan County’s season didn’t end the way they would have hoped, they still had many productive players throughout many of the team’s matches.
The Spike Dogs had six players recognized for their performances in region play, as well. E’Mariona Johnson was recognized as an honorable mention after racking up 95 kills on the season.
The other five, Camryn Scherer, Abby Dennard, Chloe Burns, Allie Cox, and Quinn Butler, were all named to the Class 3A, Area 4 All-First Team. Butler, specifically, was recognized as the region’s Player of the Year, as well.
Cox was able to assist on 700 points this season while most of those kills came from Butler (343), Burns (159), and Dennard (129). Scherer was also recognized for her 239 digs which was the most on the team.
Even with the playoff exit, the Spike Dogs continue to show why they are the team to beat in their region. This was the fourth consecutive year that the team went undefeated in area play, with their last region loss coming back in September of 2019-20.
As they look to the future, Goodwin is still set with a lot of talent coming back next season. The Spike Dogs are only graduating two seniors this offseason, so the program will hope to continue its dominance into next season.