Mills River – Roberson became the first WNC team to repeat as a state baseball state champion, merely the third NCHSAA school to do so and the first in 20 years to do that. Its now-senior nucleus seeks to “three-peat” in June.
West Henderson earned its sixth all-time volleyball 3A state title, its first since 2008, and the first for 15th-year head coach Tiffany Lowrance.
Three Cheers for West
Most recently, West Lady Falcons won the school’s first varsity football cheerleading state crown along with grand champion honors on Dec. 7, sinking competitors on Pearl Harbor Day.
“Winning feels surreal,” said Kaia Filipovic, a senior captain. The Akron, Ohio native is hailed as Henderson County’s first all-state cheerleader in 30 years that it is an official NCHSAA sport. Lacey Carver is West’s other main captain. Cole Reasoner opened the routine at its center. Caleb Marshall is the unit’s only other male. Several Falcons won a state JV cheer title a year ago.
Twenty-member West varsity topped D1 smaller coed “Game Day” squads, all 60 Game Day units, and even 160 squads across all divisions that competed indoors in Raleigh. West scored a near-perfect 98.5 out of 100 – 2.7 points ahead of others, first-year head coach Bree (Meinzer) Hodge noted.
Outscoring teams with “super exciting,” Hodge proudly said. “Judges said they felt they couldn’t take their eyes off of us,” she said. “They liked our energy. One written comment was “Wow, just wow!” Hodge’s guidance was to “jump around, be excited. It’s our Friday night routines, turned up several notches. Our athletes feel energized when cheered on.”
These cheerful champions energetically hopped and gestured, and flashed letters spelling “WEST.” They closed with a five-girl pyramid lift. Assistant Kippan Mills and JV coach Brandi Allen helped develop the winning routine. Max points are 30 each for the opening band chant and the fight song. The cheer (20 points) asked “Who’s the best? Let’s go West! W-E-S-T!”
The trickiest (20-point) challenge was fitting a “situational sideline” cheer, when prompted for offense or defense. Instructed to cheer after another Falcon first down, the squad instantly urged driving for “Touchdown, touchdown. Go, let’s go!”
Flying Falcons
Volleyball regional number one seed West Henderson (27-2) rode superstar Emma Bryson, the 6-foot-3 middle blocker committed to play for Georgia Bulldogs. Finals MVP Bryson made 15 winning slams (“kills”) and four blocks in the four-set title match triumph over East top seed J.H. Rose (23-5) at N.C. State.
West out-hit its six playoff victims with a balanced attack incuding senior Bella Baylor (18 kills in Rd. 4) and junior Marley Orr. For seasonal kill totals, Bryson made 324, Baylor and Orr surpassed 200, and junior Alena Mayberry reached 120. Setter Holland Corbin, a junior, and senior defensive specialist Allyson Garcia also starred.
Head coach Lowrance cited supreme blocking and retrieving defense, passing, and aggressive serving. After West dropped the opening set, Lowrance urged greater intensity. The Falcons obliged her with “energy and drive. We started to believe in each other, and play more like a team.”
Baylor said, “We were ‘pumped’ to play” pressure matches. Corbin said that “we’re super-charged.” Bryson intimidatingly glancied at a foe after smashing a “kill” shot winner past her. “I stare ‘em down” at times, Bryson said grinning.
Jan Stanley coached West to its first five state volleyball crowns. She said that while she stuck to a lineup, her coaching daughter Tiffany deftly subs during sets for skill-set matchups. Jan said that Tiffany “knows volleyball skills so well, and instills them” with competitive drive.
Diamond Dandies
T.C. Roberson won its second consecutive 4A baseball title against much larger-populated schools, and its fifth in this Millennium. The veteran Rams are eager to win three straight. They return the past two finals MVPS in SP-OF Micah “Nimble Ninja” Simpson and 1B Caden “Hulk” Davidson, and leadoff hitters 3B Zeb “Swingin'” Swangim and SS Jake “Scar ‘Em” Parham, among others.
“It helps our confidence to get that first run,” Swangim said. Simpson said, “We set the tone with our bats” for blowouts. Head coach Erick Filipek urged Rams to “scrap for everything.”
Filipek said that by March, hurricane-destroyed batting cages will be replaced and a new 40×80 foot indoor facility with batting and pitching cages will be ready. Its $250,000 pricetag was reduced by donated labor, he noted.
Private school state titles went to Asheville School football and Christ School hoops.
Individually, Asheville Cougars swept 4A state cross country finals with senior Michael Haskin (14:21.71) and junior Sofi Alexander (18:01.23) winning.