Leanna Newton had 16 kills to lead the Oglethorpe County volleyball team to a 25-9, 25-14, 25-15 victory over Fannin County on Tuesday to advance to the quarterfinals of the Class A/AA playoffs.
The ninth-seeded Patriots move to the Elite Eight to play at top-seeded Gordon Lee at 11 a.m. Saturday. Oglethorpe County defeated Gordon Lee in the xxxxx round last year on the way to winning the Class A state title.
Naomi McPeake recorded five kills and had four aces for the Patriots (22-17), who have won seven consecutive matches. Nora Turner and Alexis Fleming each had six kills for OCHS. Ana Vu had four aces.
“Leanna had an amazing game. She always does,” OCHS coach Brianne Harrison said. “Naomi busted her butt. Everybody served well. I think everybody contributed.”
In the first round last Saturday, OCHS defeated Woodville-Tompkins 25-13, 25-11 and 25-19.
Newton had 14 kills and McPeake added six kills for the Patriots, who had 36 digs and 30 aces.
OCHS cross country posts strong times
Oglethorpe County cross country runner John Adams finished third out of 173 runners at the Eagles Fall Invitational at East Jackson on Saturday.
The OCHS boys were seventh out of 15 teams and the girls knocked two minutes off their times in a race on the same course in August, coach Brandon Adams said.
Adams had a time of 17:29.60, followed by Rex Allen (18:57.13), who finished 33rd, Julian George (19:15.39), who was 41st and Josiah Young (19:21.50), who was 48th.
Bessi Musimbi was OCHS’ top girl, with a time of 25:12.48, good for 34th place. Maleah Booth finished in 26:33.82 and Priscilla Lopez finished in 27:00.78.
“We are not running this weekend, but working on speed and technique to prepare for sectionals at Darlington School in Rome and Nov. 7 at the difficult and technical state course, where hopefully our new course at the middle school will pay dividends,” Brandon Adams said.
Marching band shines at Hartwell competition
The OCHS Patriot marching band excelled at the Lake Hartwell Marching Band Competition on Saturday. The band moved up and competed as a Class AAAA band.
It received these ratings and awards:
- Superior Drum Major
- Excellent Colorguard
- Excellent Majorettes
- Excellent Percussion
- Superior Overall Band
- 2nd in Class Drum Major
- 3rd in Class Colorguard
- 1st in Class Majorettes
- 3rd in Class Percussion
- 1st in Class Overall Band
- 1st in Gold Division (AAAA and AAAAA Bands) Majorettes
- 3rd in Gold Division Band
Andy Johnston also contributed to this report.