The Recorder on September 24, 2026
Brooklyn Bussard goes on the attack, sending a rocket over the net against the Chargers. (Recorder photos by David Cockerham)
MONTEREY — The girls from Bath County have spent their share of time on a school bus recently.
In a span of eight days, the Chargers made trips to Buffalo Gap, Alleghany, Virginia Beach, Eastern Montgomery, and finally, to Monterey.
Bath finished that 10-match-in-11-days stretch last Thursday, defeating Highland in a Pioneer District match-up, 25-11, 25-13, 25-14.
“It’s been a long week for sure,” said BCHS coach Chrisy Harmon. “We are dragging a little. We will get a little rest over the weekend and get ready for next week.”
In Thursday’s win, Bath took charge from the start in the opening two sets, and came back from an early hole in the third against the Rams.
Addison Lockridge and Georgia Watkins each had a couple of aces early in the first set, staking the Chargers to a 13-3 advantage, while a first-hit kill from Bre Mabe and a service ace from Bailey Wolfe had the visitors on top 13-6 in the second.
Highland fought back in the third set.
Anna Meehan keeps the rally alive for the Rams.
Kills from Makynley Smith and Adelaide Baxter, and an ace from Smith put the Rams on top 4-1 early.
After a pair of Reaghan Pritt kills and a Trinity Forbes ace gave Bath a 9-7 margin, the Rams tied it at 10-all with an Ali Veasey ace.
But it was all Chargers from there.
Bath scored 11 of the next 12 points, including a string of three straight aces from Cassidee Nicely to take control.
Embrie Hazelwood led the Bath County defense with 16 digs, Nicely added 12 assists to three aces, Lockridge had four kills and three aces, and Pritt had four kills.
The Chargers emerged from the busy stretch with an idea of what needed work, said Hazelwood, Bath’s senior libero.
“Just keep talking to each other and not get down on ourselves so much,” she said.
Hazelwood also reflected on the Virginia Beach trip, the second in as many years for the program.
“When we went to Virginia Beach, we went in there open-minded,” she said. “We didn’t know who we were going to play, or how big the schools were that we were going to play. We just went to have fun and we really did have fun. We played some really big schools and got a couple big wins. I think we did good as a team.”
Reaghan Pritt powers up for the attack at the net against Highland.
The Rams continued to show improvement, especially defensively.
Marley Jarrells had a team-high eight digs, with Baxter adding seven more.
Smith was the Highland kill leader with five, Baxter had three, and Brooklyn Bussard distributed five assists.
Rams coach Beth McGuire said her group has what it takes to compete with teams like the Chargers.
“It’s tough to drop a match in three sets when you know the talent gap isn’t the issue,” she said. “Our execution just wasn’t there tonight and the errors caught up to us. We have the skills to run with this team, but we lacked the discipline today. We’ll get back in the gym and fix it.”