Salem, Va. – SW Virginia sports a trio of volleyball programs seeking state titles on Saturday. And while Auburn(two time defending Class 1 champs) and Rustburg(defending Class 3 champ) are ‘usual suspects’, Glenvar is a relative newcomer to State finals Saturday.
The Highlanders last state volleyball title was in 2006. There aren’t any players on this team that have played in a state tournament, but at 22-3 they’ve done a great job of surviving and advancing though a brutal district that includes Radford, Floyd Co, and Giles. Their coach credits an upgraded schedule--which included those two-time defending class 1 state champion Auburn Eagles--as a big key to their postseason success.
“We’ve seen some high powered offenses this year on our schedule. We played some really strong teams. Obviously we played Floyd several times and we picked up Auburn on our schedule this year. We’ve played against some offenses that do some unconventional things as well, so regardless of what kind of offenses we face we’ve seen all kinds of different offenses and you know we’re a really strong defensive team. That’s what we pride ourselves on,” Glenvar head coach Mark Rohrback says.
The Highlanders have a 2:15 match time Saturday at the Salem Civic Center when they take on Central-Woodstock for the VHSL Class 2 State volleyball crown.