Ashe County opened the year with two tough losses last week, including the conference opener at East Wilkes.

In the first match of the year, Avery County took a 3-1 win over Ashe. In the first game, both teams traded points up until both teams were tied at 18-18. After that, the Lady Vikings edged ahead of Ashe and captured game one, 26-24. Game two went in Ashe’s favor by a 25-17 score. However, Avery went on to win the final two games and the match.

“The girls played really hard all night,” said head coach Lindsey Williams. “We have a young inexperienced team and they have to learn to persevere as long as it takes and really work for every point in high pressure situations.”

The first match in Mountain Valley Conference play was Thursday at East Wilkes. Unfortunately, team captain Aspen Domske sprained an ankle in practice and forced the team to have to make some late adjustments for Thursday’s matchup.

East Wilkes came away with a 3-0 win, dealing Ashe its second loss of the week.

The closest game of the match was the second one where the Lady Huskies nearly earned a win, but fell 26-24.

The team came up short, but there were plenty of positives to take away from the matchup.

“We served the ball really well with 10 team aces, and no serving errors from Abby Lopp or Sloan Elliott,” said Coach Williams.

So far this season, Lopp leads the way with the highest kill percentage. Zoe Richardson leads the way in assists while Lopp and Elliott have been outstanding servers, having yet to miss on one this season. Lopp has also been strong on defense, leading the way in blocks.

The volleyball team will be busy this week with three matches on the schedule. Ashe has its home opener on Tuesday against Avery, will travel to Watauga on Wednesday, and will return to conference play on Thursday at Elkin.