A DIFFICULT END: Chatham falls to Altavista in Dogwood semifinals

CHATHAM — The Chatham volleyball team battled from a first-set deficit to take the first set 26-24, but ultimately saw its season come to an end against Altavista in the Dogwood District semifinals Wednesday night in Chatham.

“We came back and won (the first set), but after that, Altavista played good ball and we struggled a little bit,” Chatham coach Keith Richardson said. “The girls played hard. It just wasn’t our night.”

Altavista, which won 24-26, 25-16, 25-14, 25-23, advances to the Dogwood District tournament championship game.

Chatham’s Marissa Thompson finished with seven kills and six blocks. Paige Aaron — who finished sixth in Virginia High School League history with 96 kills during the regular season — had seven kills and three digs. Leah Easley has three kills and 29 assists and Shayna Keen finished with 11 kills and three digs for Chatham (15-7), which finished second in the Dogwood District in the regular season — its best regular season in program history. The Cavaliers were also eliminated in the Dogwood District semifinals last year.

Five seniors — Aaron, Thompson, Easley, Katelyn Dockery and Suzanne Toluba — played their last game for the Cavs.

Altavista jumped out to a big lead in the final set, only to watch Chatham storm back to tie it at 23-23 before falling.

“If you would have told me at the beginning of the year that we would have been second in the district with a chance to go to the regional tournament, I might have second guessed that,” Richardson said. “I never had a team that improved so much at practice from Day One until the end, and I really couldn’t ask for any more out of them.”