Rosman Tigers on the Road to the State Championship

For the second straight year the Rosman Tigers Volleyball Girls team vies for the Championship for the state of North Carolina! Brevard, Rosman, Lake Toxaway, Pisgah Forest etc.,  and all of Transylvania County has more of the  offer besides the best deals in Real Estate in all of the Western North Carolina Counties. Team work and great schools are just a part of what makes this area one of the Coolest Small Towns in all of America!

The girls have done it again with a huge win over West Wilkes Tuesday night wrapping up another shot at a state title. This morning as I visited a local banking institute the Ecusta Credit Union I notice a large crowd with signs out by the road with orange pom-poms and excitement all over their faces. So naturally being the curious one in the family, joined them and took the attached photos. Amazing how all along the way from Rosman into Brevard and into Pisgah Forest on the way to Raleigh that folks were gathered along the road to cheer on the girls as they drove by in the bus.

Game time is set for 2:30 at the Reynolds Coliseum on the campus of N.C. State University in Raleigh.  For the second straight year the Rosman Tigers Volleyball Girls team vies for the state of North Carolina Championship! Brevard, Rosman, Lake Toxaway, Pisgah Forest etc.,  and all of Transylvania County has more of the  offer besides the best deals in Real Estate in all of the Western North Carolina Counties. Team work, great schools, and fantastic fans are just a part of what makes this area one of the Coolest Small Towns in all of America!

Tuesday wrapped up the final win for the 1-A championship and now on to state. Below is the excerpt from our newspaper the Transylvania Times by Robbie Robertson, Sports Editor and how the big win was one! GO Lady Tigers! 

For the second straight year, the Lady Tiger volleyball team will vie for a state championship, earning a title shot by defeating West Wilkes 3-1 Tuesday night.

It was a hard-fought match against a worthy adversary, but a regional championship appearance wasn't going to cut it.

"Six juniors got on a bus home from Raleigh last year and made a promise to us," said an emotional Mildred Powell, Rosman's long-time volleyball chief.

"They promised us they'd be back this year and they kept it. That is what has been their drive all year long," she said.

Honoring that pledge required a Rosman rally, as the Lady Blackhawks came ready to play. West Wilkes won the first game 25-23.

West Wilkes went early and often to their big hitter, Laura Cantrell, a recent signee to play volleyball at UNC-Charlotte. She almost single-handedly kept the Lady Blackhawks in the game.

But where Wilkes had one weapon, the Lady Tigers had many, spreading the scoring out from one corner of the net to the other, getting points from starters and substitutes alike.

As a result, three Lady Tigers had double-digit offensive output and another was within one.

Lea Kilpatrick narrowly missed a triple-double. She had 10 kills, 33 digs and seven aces, three of those in a critical stretch in the game four win.

Taylor Whitmire had 14 kills, while Teal Parker had 10 blocks to go with six kills.

Maddie Limbo had nine kills and 23 digs, while Lauren Galloway had four kills and five blocks.

Kaleigh Whisenant and Baylee Bagwell set up the killers, with 21 and 14 assists, respectively.

The Lady Tigers used five players to build a 15-10 lead in the first game. Kilpatrick and Limbo served aces, while Whitmire and Galloway had early blocks.

Parker's tip into the back corner made it 15-10, but a 7-2 run by West Wilkes knotted it at 17 apiece.

The score was tied four more times down the stretch, at 18, 19,21 and 22. Galloway had a kill and Parker scored back-to-back points for a 21-19 Rosman advantage.

The Lady Blackhawks roared back to take a quick lead at 22-21, before Whitmire put a kill down from the outside spot.

West Wilkes then scored three straight points, two of them on Rosman miscues, to win 25-23.

Game two was another see-saw battle, with Rosman erasing an early deficit and building a four-point lead, only to see the Blackhawks rally.

With the score tied at 21, Carissa Lambert served an ace that nobody on the visitors' side covered. Kilpatrick then put down a kill for a 23-21 lead, prompting a Lady Blackhawk time-out and invigorating the capacity crowd.

After a kill by West Wilkes, Whitmire made it game-point with a kill down the left side.

The Lady Blackhawks tied it up with two straight points, however, and had game point themselves after a serve into the net by Rosman.

Whitmire tied it up at 26 with a kill that bounced off a West Wilkes blocker, but Rosman gave up a point on a net violation.

Galloway tied it up with a kill and Kilpatrick put Rosman up one with a kill, 28-27. An error on the next play doomed West Wilkes to a 29-27 game two loss.

The back-and-fourth struggle continued into the third game, with Rosman rallying from a 13-10 deficit on kills by Kilpatrick, Lambert and Limbo.

The Lady Tigers continued to roll, extending their lead on a 11-2 run to go up 21-15.

A great dig by Emma Driver set up a kill for Whitmire. Driver had 23 digs on the evening.

Kilpatrick then served an ace and Limbo put a kill down the sideline.

Parker blocked a kill and Kilpatrick served an ace that landed inside the baseline for a 21-15 Rosman advantage.

That prompted a West Wilkes time-out, but the Lady Tigers cruised to a 25-19 win, pulling ahead 2-1 in the match.

Neither team would give an inch in the early stages of game four, either.

Rosman took a 3-0 lead to start the game only to see West Wilkes score five straight.

A tip by the setter, Whisenant, gave Rosman a 6-5 lead, but a 6-2 run by Wilkes put the Lady Blackhawks up 11-8.

West Wilkes' last lead came at 14-13, right before Parker tied it up with a kill from the middle.

Limbo put down a quick kill on an errant Lady Blackhawk pass just over the net.

Kilpatrick then scored two straight aces for a 17-14 score and a West Wilkes time-out.

Kilpatrick then made it three in a row and the Lady Tigers were never again challenged in the match.

Galloway blocked a Cantrell kill and Christina Rice served back-to-back aces for a 22-15 score.

Whitmire put a kill down that bounced off the West Wilkes digger for game point, 24-16.

Limbo closed it out with a kill on the left side for the 25-16 (3-1) victory.

The Lady Tigers will now travel to Raleigh for the state 1-A championship game. Rosman will face last season's champion, Pender, who won 3-0 in the Eastern Regional finals.