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Showing posts from November 9, 2008

Home At Last : Never have the Bright Lights of Down Town Luray looked so pretty !

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Somehow made it back home from VCU but sadly now it is time to go work all night on getting our Washington Post delivered. I believe I have 40+ pages of notes from the past week and quite a few pics to choose from as well. Hope to get started soon! Here are a few pics to fill the gap.

Signing off from Richmond. More later.

Rams lose game 3 25-10 and Match 3-0

Rams down 21-8

Rams down 19-7

Rams down 14-6 Game 3

Time Out Rams--Rams down 9-3

Rams down 4-1

Game 3 begins 5:51

Rams lose game 2 25-19

Rams down 22-13

Time Out Rams--Rams down 18-12

Rams in need of a run......

Rams down 13-9

Rams down 6-9

Time Out Rams--Rams down 6-0

Gate City has scored 12 unanswered points.

Rams down 4-0

Game 2 underway 5:30

Rams downed 25-23--Shocked!

Gate City closes on 6-0 run for Game 1 victory.

Time Out Rams Rams Down 24-23

Time Out Rams--Rams up 23-22

Time Out Blue Devils Rams 23-19!

Blue Devil Time Out Rams 19-14!

Doman 3 kills one block. Ayers 2 kills. Conde 2 kills. Smoot 2 kills 3 blocks.

Rams 18-15!

Rams 12-8

Rams up 10-5

Rams up 7-3

Game begins 5:03--GO RAMS!!

Greetings from VCU - Almost Game Time for Strasburg vs. Gate City

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RICHMOND - Hidden Valley is trying to hold on to capture Game 3 of the Class AA finals. Trailing 2-0, HV held a 24-18 lead as they attempted to force Game 4 but Loudon County has just raced back to score six straight to force a 24-24 tie. Loudon County leads 2-0 but Hidden Valley is still fighting for their lives (27-27)... Loudon County wins 29-27 to sweep 3-0 and capture the Class AA Championship at 4:32 P.M. Awards ceremony to follow and then final warm-ups for the Class A finals.

VT Club Volleyball : Good thing VB is an indoor sport

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HARRISONBURG - Good morning from the rain soaked campus of James Madison University . The action is set to get under way in 30 minutes and here is hoping that the weather breaks before the JMU Dukes play football this afternoon against the Tribe of William & Mary. Updates on this mornings action when possible... If you are wanting to read about Wilson- Strasburg click on one of the three links listed below. www.nvdaily.com www.newsvirginian.com www.newsleader.com

Saturday Morning Volleyball : James Madison University Fall Tourney

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For those of you that can't wait until 5:00 P.M. in Richmond for your Volleyball fix there is good news for you. JMU's Club Volleyball team is hosting a day long tournament that will have a minimum of 17 teams competing and play begins at 8:30 A.M. The sitr will be the UREC building which is next to the Convo Center on campus. Kaitlin Smoot (Strasburg '08) and her Virginia Tech "A" team will be competeing as will the VT "B" team. Others schools bringing both their A & B teams include JMU, UVA, Georgetown, Longwood, Maryland and West Virginia. William & Mary, Townson and George Mason are also slated for the event...

Weren't we just here ? Gate City vs. Strasburg for the State Championship/ R.E Lee & Buffalo Gap move on in Prep Football

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Great crowd following the Bison (just 1 of 4 sections ), Bill Meade working the sidelines... Both Jim Sacco and myself had a bit of double duty for Friday night. Jim was staying court side for the Auburn- Gate City semi-final, covering it for the Media General newspaper out of Bristol (Bristol Herald Courier). I believe his story will appear at http://www.tricities.com/ . ____________________________________________ Jim tells me that Gate City won the match in five games and I was able to tell him that Buffalo Gap looked awfully sharp in their 46-12 victory over home standing Cumberland. Gap (11-0) has not lost a game since the fall of 2006 when they dropped their next to last game vs. Riverheads . _____________________________________________ R.E Lee also advanced to play another week by defeating Liberty- Bedford 35-7 back in Staunton at Gypsy Hill Park. R.E. Lee will travel to Brookville next Friday while Buffalo Gap will head down to William Campbell. WC eliminated the third t

6:32 P.M. - Ram Tough - Strasburg takes Game #4 - 25 to 23... Back to the Finals !

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Congrats to Wilson on their season... Much to be proud of !!! Strasburg advances to face winner of Auburn and Gate City Saturday at 5:00 P.M.

6:30 p.m. - Strasburg 23, Wilson 21 - Wilson T.O.

tIED 21-21

Game #4 - Tied @ 18-18

Strasburg Time Out - Wilson scores 4 straight, lead 17-12 in 4TH

Strasburg scores 5 straight points, trail 11-13...Wilson Time Out

Rams Time Out - Wilson 11, Strasburg 6- Lady Green Hornets try to force Game 5

Game #4 - Wilson (1) 9, Strasburg (2) 6

6:07 P.M. - Rams roll in Game #3 - Strasburg 25, Wilson 10

Smoot scores 7 kills & 1 block...

Game #3 - Wilson Time Out - Strasburg 18, Wilson 9

Game # 3 - (Tied 1-1) Strasburg 9 Wilson 6

Game #2 - 5:49 P.M. - Wilson 25 , Strasburg 16

Rams Time Out : Game #2 Wilson 20, Strasburg 15

Bartley with 3 kills and 1 block to spark Wilson

Rams Time out : Game #2 Wilson 10, Strasburg 9

Game #2 - Strasburg 8 Wilson 5

5:30 P.M. - Game #1 Final Strasburg 25 - Wilson 15

Samantha St. Clair scored the final kill of game 1 for the Rams... Conde 3 kills , Smoot 3 kills + 1 block Guy - 2 kills , Bartley 2 kills

Strasburg 21 Wilson 11

Strasburg 16 Wilson 8

Time Out Wilson - Strasburg 13 Wilson 5

Strasburg 9 Wilson 3

Game On - 5:14

http://www.newsvirginian.com for a play by play blog

4:49 P.M. - Press row is filling up fast !

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Coach Knight and Coach Troyer NVD's Tim Tassa Chris Lassiter of the News-Leader will be keeping a live blog as will Jim Sacco. John Galle is here from the Shenandoah Valley Herald with his pen and camera. Somebody is here from the Woodstock Free Press and they are filming the game for a live stream through the News-Leader. Just moments away as the ladies from both squads have taken the court! Sitting just behind us are two of the more decorated coaches in the VB area- Gina Troyer (Turner Ashby) and Alan Knight (Page County)... Rosanne Weber is behind the lens tonight for The News Virginian...

4:45 - Hidden Valley (Roanoke) advances 15-13 in 5TH

4:44 P.M. - Salem - Hidden Valley tied 13 All in Game 5

4:28 P.M.- Salem rebounds to force game #5

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Salem defeated Hidden Valley 25-15 to tie the match at 2-2. Game 5 will start momentarily...

Greetings from Richmond, Va. - It's Almost Game Time for Strasburg & Wilson !

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4:11 P.M. - Hidden Valley and Salem have just started Game #4 of their Class AA Semi-Final. The Titans of Hidden Valley have a 2-1 lead over the Spartans. Salem swept the two matches the teams played during the regular season. HV leads 6-2 as they go for the clincher and the right to play Loudon County in the finals. Tim Tassa (Northern Virginia Daily) is here to cover things from the Strasburg perspective and I am sitting next to Jim Sacco who is manning the fort for The News Virginian. Shaun Cox made the trip from Staunton to cover the Lady Green Hornets for the News-Leader. Both squads are here are are in the final stages of preparation for the match...

High School Volleyball : Thursday is in the Books

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Boys AAA Semi-finals : Thomas Dale 25-22, 25-16, 25-22 over Great Bridge Deep Run 25-15, 25-20, 25-20 over Frank Cox Next: Saturday at 1:00 P.M. Thomas Dale vs. Deep Run _____________________________________ Girls AAA Semi-finals : Westfield 23-25, 25-21, 26-24, 25-22 over Landstown Albemarle 25-22, 25-20,19-25, 20-25, 15-13 over Chantilly Next: Saturday at 7:00 P.M. Westfield vs. Albemarle The field has been reduced to 12 teams overall with 4 more semi-finals slated for Friday...

10 Minutes with Jim Sacco : Talking Class A Volleyball (Wilson Memorial-Strasburg)

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Click on the link below and it will direct you to the segment... http://www.newsvirginian.com/wnv/sports/high_school_prep/article/wilson_extra_the_webcast/31195 One note- My son Christopher asked me after watching the tape why I appeared to be afraid to look into the camera? Just trying to hide the blood shot eyes as we taped the segment after I drove back from Mathews... Thanks to Jim for the invite!

The 411 on the Volleyball Match : Heading down to the Siegel Center

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The official name for the site of the Volleyball games is The Alltel Pavillion @ The Stuart C. Siegel Center. The Siegel Center is located right off I-95 in downtown Richmond and is part of the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University. For those of you driving down and want to look up the best route the actual address is 1200 West Broad Street...Richmond, Virginia. Admission is $10.00 each day and is good for all 4 matches that day ________________________________ Thursday Schedule : ________________________________ 1:00 P.M. & 3:00 P.M. Boys AAA semi-finals (Thomas Dale, Frank Cox, Great Bridge & Deep Run) 5:00 P.M. Girls AAA Albemarle vs. Chantilly 7:00 P.M. Girls AAA Landstown vs. Westfield ________________________________________ FRIDAY : 1:00 P.M. Class AA Girls Loudon County vs. Chancellor 3:00 P.M. Class AA Girls Hidden Valley vs. Salem 5:00 P.M. Class A Girls Strasburg vs. Wilson Memorial 7:00 P.M. Class A Girls Auburn vs. Gate City __________________________

Page News & Courier' Sports Editor Bill Meade picks for the Week

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Forgot there was a pair of Thursday night affairs on the board so I better type fast. For those of you seeing this post for the 1ST time, our local Sports Editor Bill Meade has a panel made up of folks here in Page County. Six regulars and 1 guest take a shot at picking 12 winners. We welcome you to join us with picks of your own from home... High School Playoffs : _____________________ Harrisonburg @ Amherst Jefferson Forrest @ Turner Ashby Buffalo Gap @ Cumberland Riverheads @ William Campbell NCAA Football : _____________________ Virginia Tech @ Miami (Thursday) Boston College @ Florida State William & Mary @ James Madison University North Carolina @ Maryland NFL Games: ______________________ San Diego @ Pittsburgh N.Y. Jets @ New England (Thursday) Chicago @ Green Bay Dallas @ Washington Mike - Let me know if you want to send some UVA baseball stuff our way...

Road to Richmond :Go Figure, Gardner-Webb saves the Day !

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Ever been in a situation where you just needed to catch a break? As the All-State commercials say- I am so there. I can know say I WAS so there but at 9:32 A.M. this morning that all changed. Every Friday night for the past 2 seasons Chip Crabill and myself have broad casted one of the local (Augusta County) High School football games. ESPN Radio 1240 is the station that we broadcast on and this week we were scheduled to call the Liberty- Bedford @ R.E. Lee playoff game a 7:30 P.M. The trouble I was having was trying to figure out how to get from Richmond ( VCU ) to Gypsy Hill Park in time for the broadcast to start. Strasburg and Wilson Memorial are set to play their Class A State Final Four Volleyball match at 5:00 P.M. and the two venues are separated by 109 miles. Here is where the Runnin ' Bulldogs of Gardner-Webb come in and save the day. G-W is playing a Men's Basketball game at 8:00 P.M. Friday night in Blacksburg , Va. against the Va Tech Hokies . ESPN-1240 is a

Shenandoah County vs. Augusta County playing for a date with Gate (City)

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Versus The only way this could be more fun would be to split the difference between the two schools and hold the match at JMU . Gate City or Auburn awaits the winner on Saturday evening at 5:00 P.M... 1ST things 1ST Friday night at 5:00 in the Siegel Center in Down Town Richmond...

Let the Countdown Begin : 40 hours left until Wilson Memorial & Strasburg lace them up again...

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LURAY - Can't get enough of the coverage that Rob Sisk , Jim Sacco and company are giving the efforts of Wilson Memorial down at The News Virginian this week. I know that I have sent you over there quite a bit the last few days but you will want to check the new stuff out at http://www.newsvirginian.com/ . I was in Jim's office on Wednesday and he was hard at work on the next story before the ink dried on the previous one. The idea of treating the Class A Final Four in Volleyball with equal zest and zeal of other playoff runs, these folks are after my own heart...

More pics from Strasburg @ Mathews (Mrs. Smoot) and One of ours from Wilson

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Great to see Katie Baker, Cassidy Weitman and Kaitlin Smoot all there to cheer on Strasburg last Saturday at Wilson Memorial. From looking at three from Strasburg '08, we switch to three from Strasburg '10 Jenna getting some Air time vs. Mathews Thanks again for sharing the pics...

Finally home from Mathews by way of Wanesbro and Mrs. Smoot (Jenna's Mom) had some pics waiting

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Just after the match winning point- Let the Celebration begin ______________________________________________________ Check out Tim Tassa's gamer @ www.nvdaily.com _________________________________________________________ Game 3 in the books and as Coach said: "We are heading to Richmond" Stephanie Conde and Jenna Smoot protecting the net Rebecca Coffman celebrating one of her many Aces Smoot and Jacyln Ayers moving in for the Block Thanks for sharing the pics ! The stop over in Waynesboro was a great deal of fun. Jim Sacco and Rob Sisk are pulling out all the stops down at The News Virginian and they invited me to tape a segment with Jim at 1:00 P.M. today. 15 minutes of two serious Class A/Region B/ High School VB fans trying to shine a light on two special teams. Things went well until Jim asked for a pic on the rematch...

They're Back : Gate City Blue Devils join Strasburg in returning to Richmond

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Gate City captured the Class A State Crown in both 2004 & 2005. Also finished runner-up to 2008 Champion Strasburg after falling 3-2 in the Finals. The picture is courtesy of the Gate City High School web site. Gate City is coached by Amy Reed and the Blue Devils record this season is 24-1. The lone loss on the season came way back on September 29TH at Morristown East. How hot are the Lady Blue Devils ? In their last 10 matches they have dropped a Grand Total of 1 game...

Auburn Eagles of Montgomery County (Riner) makes Four

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Riner , Va. is located just a few miles down the road from Christiansburg , Virginia on Highway Va.-8 and their VB team (Auburn High School) will be making the trip to Richmond for the Class A State Final Four this week end.Auburn (24-2) defeated John Battle High School at home on Tuesday night and will next face the Blue Devils of Gate City. The semi-final match will take place at 7:00 P.M. on Saturday night in the Siegel Center on the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University. I couldn't locate a team picture yet so for the time being we will use their Eagles logo. Congrats to Auburn High School.

Class A Final Four is set : Gate City (24-1) and Auburn (24-2) join Wilson Memorial (21-3) and Strasburg (23-3) in Richmond

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You really want to head over to the The News-Virginian ( http://www.newsvirginian.com/ ) for a boat load of coverage already posted on their web page. Sports Editor Rob Sisk and Company were back at triple coverage and it is good stuff over there. Remember that you can catch Tim Tassa's gamer on the Strasburg - Mathews match at the http://www.nvdaily.com/ . Interested in the other two semi-final teams, check out the gamers at http://www.tricities.com/ . They have a VB writer down there by the name of Tim Hayes and they stories on both of their games already posted (1:06 A.M.)... Time to call it a night from beautiful Down Town Gloucester and try to head back through the woods and over the mountain ...

Notes from Mathews, Va. : A neat place full of hospitality

A couple of side notes from the experience of hanging out for a day in Mathews... Tim Tassa ( NVD ) called back at 10:14 P.M. to let me know that he was able to get his story sent up to Chuck back in Strasburg okay. When area teams travel long distances it can be a challenge to find a spot with Internet access to get the story sent. I had discovered one nearby (Gloucester) and had invited Tim to use it if he couldn't make other arraignments . Deadline for the NVD is write around 11:20 P.M. He made deadline with plenty to spare and it was in no small part to the good folks at MHS . I was impressed with just how friendly everyone was before and after the match, from the young lady working the ticket table all the way through. Coach Moughon was a treat to talk with and the staff went way out of their way in order for Tim to get his job done. In a world where most people just want to speak to a high school administration to complain... A tip of the Cap from Around The

Strasburg and Wilson Memorial advance to Class A Final Four

MATHEWS- Strasburg and Wilson Memorial took different paths to their 3-0 sweeps on Tuesday night but both are now heading to the Siegel Center at VCU on Friday night. More to come from both matches but I wanted to get the info up as soon as possible.

Quick pics from Mathews : Story to follow

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Gotta love the Boss being one of your biggest supporters Ram Team Huddle Blue Devils getting ready to take the court Did she ever ! Dominating from the service line. Our buddy Tim Tassa of the NVD. Check out his gamer later at http://www.nvdaily.com/ The excitement after the game 2 victory ! The energy level so much higher than last Saturday at Wilson Memorial. Stephanie Conde was on fire... Jenna and Jacyln discussing game strategy This gentelman runs a site at http://www.804sports.fototime.com/ . He takes pictures of various events and makes them available thru his site. If they are school related, part of the money goes to the school.