In front of a large group of family, friends, and teammates one of the original members of the Chesnee girls golf team, Sydney Roberts, teed off for the final time at Meadowbrook Golf Course as a member of the Eagles team against a familiar foe.
Roberts, who has been a member of the Eagles golf team since it's first season four years ago, said that it's hard to believe it's her final home match for the Eagles. "The last four years have just flown by so quick," said Roberts. "I'm thankful for all the members and I'm really going to miss it. I'm so thankful for Coach Scruggs and all my coaches as well as teammates. I just can't believe these four years are almost up." While Roberts has been with the Eagles program for the last four years, she started her career as a member of the Boiling Springs golf program as a seventh grader and it just happened to be the team she was competing against in her final home match. "It's kind of cool to be finishing against Boiling Springs," said Roberts. "In my eighth grade year I would have never guessed we would have started a program at Chesnee so it's cool that I'll be playing against Madison Dixon who I played with at Boiling Springs. I imagine we'll be talking about some memories as we compete today and I'm excited about that." Chesnee head coach Kyle Scruggs, who also coach Roberts in her two years at Boiling Springs, says it's hard for him to believe that her career with the Eagles is almost over. "I've been coaching her since the seventh grade and I'm really going to miss the kid," said Scruggs. "It's hard to believe her high school golf is almost over and that today is her last ever home match. When Sydney and the other girls that helped start the program that came over from Boiling Springs it really started us on a good foundation at Chesnee four years ago. We've been pretty successful in these four years and I think all those kids helped to start that trend here. Having a player of Sydney's caliber play here at Chesnee is big for these younger girls because they see her success along with getting a scholarship to Clemson and it shows them that they can do it too." Roberts said that while she has accomplished a lot so far in her senior season, she still has a few goals she wants to accomplish before her career with the Eagles ends. "I have a total of five state medals and four of them are silver," said Roberts. "Hopefully this year I'll get a gold one and maybe even two of them. I want to end this year excelling both individually and as a team because I think we can do it along with getting this team going on the right foot for next year. I just want to end my career on a good note at the state tournament." Scruggs said that Roberts in her senior season has only shown in impressive fashion why the expectations for her going into this season were so high. "She's won three of four tournaments along with two runner-ups including her third medalist honor at the Rebel Invitational this year," said Scruggs. "In every tournament she has been in this year she has pretty much been in contention. She set a course record at the Ponderosa Country Club with a score of 62 just the other day and her overall average score for the season is like 68.6 so she's doing everything she can to back up that she's one of the top golfers in the state." One thing that Roberts says she has learned this year as a senior is how to be a leader to the younger players on the team. "When I first started I had four girls ahead of me on the team but this year has been quite a change as I've had learn how to be the leader," said Roberts. "This year has been pretty cool as it has matured me because I had to take on the leadership role as I was the only senior on the team. It has been a really good year for me personally because it has taught me how to be a leader." While Roberts is winding down her career as a player for the Eagles, she is also looking towards next season as she recently committed to play college golf at Clemson University. She said that she fell in love with Clemson on her first trip there when she got to tour the campus with just her family for the first time. "I'll be going there for my third trip there tomorrow but my first time down there was in January before things opened back up," said Roberts. "I couldn't talk to the coaches on that first trip so I kind of just toured around myself and I just fell in love with the campus without seeing all the ins and outs of the school. Then I got a chance to go back in June and see all the other things that the school offered, along with the great coaches there, and that really just helped me make my decision. I also like the opportunity to play close to home and I couldn't be more excited." In her senior match on Thursday, Roberts led the Eagles to a victory over both Boiling Springs and Landrum with a team score of 154. Roberts won medalist honors with a score of 34 which was one stroke ahead of her teammate and sister Olivia Roberts in her senior match. Roberts and the Eagles will return to the course on Tuesday when they travel to the Newberry Country Club to compete in the Smith Memorial Tournament. CHESNEE, S.C. – Prior to their Region II-2A contest against Brashier Middle College, the Chesnee Eagles honored three seniors – Kaitlyn Barrett, Kyleigh Thompson, and Brie Smith – for their time and contributions to the volleyball program, which includes a state championship just last season.
The Eagles left no doubt on the court, as they swept the visiting Bengals in three sets (25-15, 25-16, 25-7). Chesnee never trailed by a deficit larger than three points over the entire contest. “It’s always a hard night because it’s so emotional,” said Chesnee head coach Katie Jolley. “By the third set, we were warmed up and ready to go. They really wanted to prove something during that last set and played amazing.” In the first set, Brashier Middle College took an early 3-0 lead, but the Lady Eagles fought back and pulled even at 12 before rattling off a 7-0 run, of which six points came off a serve run by Thompson. During the run, Barrett and Pearl Holloway combined for four kills. “I’ve played for Chesnee since middle school,” Barrett stated. “It’s never been about who the best player is or who is number one. It’s all about the team and how each of us care for one another. It’s not just one individual we all care about – we care about this team as a whole.” In the second frame, the Bengals jumped ahead 2-0 before seeing that lead quickly evaporate, as a Thompson serve keyed a 6-0 run and gave the Eagles a 6-2 advantage at that juncture, which they wouldn’t relinquish. “We definitely have each other’s backs,” Thompson remarked. “We want to get better at every practice and game. We want to make sure to give one hundred percent each time we step onto that court. If someone’s having a bad day, we’ll back them up, let them know that it’s okay, and that we’ll go get the next pass.” Chesnee opened the final stanza with a blistering 16-3 run and secured another victory in region play. A serve by Barrett provided a spark during the run, along with a 3-0 run by Smith during her serve in the frame. “I was homeschooled, so it’s been really cool to come and be a part of this community,” Smith added. “It’s honestly just a family here. It’s been really nice to be around other people that care for each other like this team does.” Chesnee (8-6, 6-1 Region II-2A) remains in a three-way battle for the top spot between St. Joseph’s (undefeated in region) and Landrum (one game behind Chesnee). “Even though we’re seniors,” Barrett said. “We want to leave our mark. We have a bunch of freshmen that came in this year, so we’re hoping that we can be good role models for them to improve and become better players.” All three seniors had impressive nights on Thursday as Kaitlyn Barrett led the way with twenty-five kills, nine digs, and four ace serves while fellow senior Brie Smith added six kills and eleven digs. Senior Kyleigh Thompson led the team in digs with twenty while also adding two kills for the Eagles. While Thursday night was about the seniors, Chesnee also got good nights from underclassmen Pearl Holloway, who led the team in assists with thirty-four while adding two kills, and Harley Grady who added seventeen digs in the match. The next match for the Lady Eagles will be on Tuesday, October 5th at home versus St. Joseph’s. The start time is scheduled for approximately 7 PM. Chesnee volleyball started the second half of their region schedule with a 3-0 victory over Blacksburg and got some key contributions from their bench to improve their region record to 5-1 this season. The Eagles jumped ahead early with an impressive 25-15 victory in the first set to grab a 1-0 lead over the Wildcats in the match, as the first set was the most dominant set victory for the Eagles. While the next two sets were closer in score the Eagles took care of business grabbing a 25-21 victory in the second set and a 25-22 victory in the third set. Kaitlyn Barrett had another impressive night for the Eagles as she recorded nineteen kills, eleven digs, and two blocks while Pearl Holloway added thirty assists on Thursday night. Brie Smith also had another good night recording eight digs and three kills for the Eagles. With the Eagles dealing with some injuries, Chesnee got some key contributions from younger players on Thursday to get the victory over the Wildcats. The first player to make key contributions was Harley Grady, who stepped into the libero role, and led the team with fifteen digs on Thursday night. Skylar Barrett and Mitchell Wofford also came into the game against Blacksburg making key contributions as Barrett recorded nine digs and five ace serves while Wofford picked up six kills herself. With the victory the Eagles improve to 8-5 overall on the season and will return to the court on Thursday night where they will honor their seniors in a home match against Brashier Middle College. Chesnee will be honoring seniors Kaitlyn Barrett, Brie Smith, and Kyleigh Thompson on Thursday before the game. Roberts Sets Course RecordAfter coming off a fourth place finish at the High School Invitational event this past weekend, and an eighth place team finish, Chesnee senior golfer Sydney Roberts saved her best work for Tuesday.
On Tuesday the Chesnee golf team finished in second place at the Ponderosa Classic but it was Roberts who made the history books as she shot a course record score of 62, ten shots under par and two shots under the old course record. While Sydney Roberts was the medalist for the match after a great day of golf she was also joined on the All-Tournament team by her teammate and sister Olivia Roberts who shot a score of 74 her own. The Eagles will travel to play Boiling Springs at Woodfin Ridge on Wednesday before hosting the Bulldogs on Thursday at Meadowbrook for senior night. Chesnee made the long trek to Timberland on Friday night but came up a little short as they fell to the Wolves 32-19 in the non-region matchup.
"Our kids gave a good effort the whole game even though we were shorthanded,” said Chesnee head coach Clay Lewis. “We just made too many mistakes but we will get better.” The game started off with the the Eagles receiving the opening kickoff for the fifth consecutive game. An early Chesnee turnover gave the wolves the ball around midfield which they capitalized on with a Rowen Wadford four yard run to the endzone with 8:32 left in the first quarter to take a 6-0 lead. Chesnee responded quickly as Bryson Thompson took a pitch from Landon Thompson and raced around the right end taking the opening play seventy-six yards to the endzone to tie give the Eagles a 7-6 lead with just over eight minutes to go in the first quarter. The team's proceeded to swap defensive stops over the next several drives with Chesnee’s Tyquan Dawkins having a beautiful interception to end one of those drives as he stepped in front of a Wolve's receiver who was running a slant pattern. Timberland ended the defensive stalemate exactly twelve minutes after their opening score when Omari Jenkins ran it in from four yards out with 8:32 left in the first half. Rowen Wadford ran in for the two point conversion to make it 14-7 in favor of Timberland. The Wolves received the second half kickoff but the Eagles defense made a great stand to start the half as they came up with three consecutive negative plays that ended when Jayden Gossett blocked a punt attempt and Dylan Bennett returned the block to the three yard line. Gossett capped it off with a three yard plunge and after the PAT was failed the Eagles trailed 14-13 with 10:45 left in the third quarter. Chesnee took the lead on their next drive that was aided by a pair of big runs from Landon Thompson and Bryson Thompson before Gossett punched it in once again from three yards out to give the Eagles a 19-14 lead with three minutes to go in the third quarter. The Wolves responded on the ensuing drive as Rowan Wadford took a handoff ten yards for a score but a failed two point conversion try kept the score at 20-19 in favor of Timberland with three seconds left in the third quarter. Timberland pulled away in the fourth quarter thanks to a pair of touchdown runs by Demarri Middletonhe, one from five yards out and the second from fifteen yards out, to make the score 32-19 in favor of the Wolves. Bryson Thompson had a big game for the Eagles as he finished with 117 yards on nine carries with a touchdown to go along with three tackles. "He is an explosive player,” said Lewis about Thompson. “He makes plays with the ball in his hands and this is two weeks in a row he has made a big play.” Jayden Gossett had a big game with a pair of scores and forty-seven yards on the ground along with three catches for twenty-three yards. He also had a big night defensively adding six and a half tackles along with a sack to his stat line. Dylan Bennett led the way in tackles with nine and a half tackles which was just ahead of Austin Bigford who added eight tackles of his own. Next Friday the Eagles will host Legion Collegiate Academy for homecoming starting at 7:30 PM. On Thursday night the Chesnee volleyball team finished their first trip through region play with a dominant 3-0 road victory over Landrum to improve to 3-1 in the region.
The toughest set of the match for the Eagles came in the first set where they defeated the Cardinals 25-22 but after the victory in the first set it was all Eagles from that point on as they came away with a 25-12 victory in set two and a 25-18 victory in the final set of the night. Chesnee’s dominant performance was led by All-State player Kaitlyn Barrett who had another great night coming away with twenty-two kills, fourteen digs, and two ace serves. Brie Smith added five kills, fourteen digs, and one block while Pearl Holloway came away with an impressive twenty-seven assists and four ace serves on Thursday night. While the Eagles were very productive with scoring they also got a solid night defensively from Haley Edmonds and Kyleigh Thompson who combined for thirty-six digs as Edmonds came away with twenty to lead the Eagles and Thompson added sixteen more. Chesnee will return to play on Tuesday when they travel to Blacksburg to start the second half of their region schedule. While the Eagles volleyball team was winning on Thursday the Chesnee girls golf team also came with a victory over Landrum at the Links O’Tryon where Olivia Roberts won medalist honors with a score of 39. The Eagles golf team team will return to play this weekend when they travel to the Country Club of South Carolina in Florence for the two day High School Invitational. After losing their first region match of the year on Thursday the Chesnee volleyball team bounced back in impressive fashion defeating Greer Middle College 3-1 on Tuesday night in a home region match.
After winning the first set 25-18 the Eagles fell in the second set 25-22 but didn't let that get the best of them as they battled back to win the final two sets which head coach Katie Jolley said she was proud to see from her team. "We played great defense tonight against a very good hitting team," said Jolley. "We got down a little at the end of the second set but the girls showed a lot of heart by coming back strong in the third and fourth sets. I'm very proud of how we battled back." In the third set both teams battled to a 24-24 tie but the Eagles grabbed the final two points in the set to come away with a 26-24 set victory. In the fourth set the Eagles picked up an impressive victory defeating Greer Middle College 25-17 to pick up the 3-1 victory in the match. Chesnee got another impressive night from Kaitlyn Barrett who recorded twenty-seven kills to go along with eighteen digs. Pearl Holloway continued her strong play picking up eight kills, thirty-five assists and sixteen digs while Brie Smith added seven kills and seventeen digs. Kyleigh Thompson and Haley Edmonds tied Barrett in digs as both also had eighteen digs on Tuesday while Thompson added five kills. With the victory the Eagles improved to 3-1 in region play which guarantees them a winning record for their first trip through region play. Chesnee will finish out their first trip through region play on Thursday when they travel to Landrum before starting their second trip through region play next Tuesday in a road match against Blacksburg. On Friday night Chesnee and Chapman renewed their rivalry for the first time since the Eagles opened their revamped stadium but it was the Panthers that came away with the 46-22 victory over the Eagles.
"I thought in the first quarter we did what we came here to do," said Chesnee head coach Clay Lewis. "We scored and had some ball control but then we had some turnovers in the second quarter that put us behind. Overall our kids played hard and didn't flinch as we got better tonight. We did some things well that we hadn't done well up until this point." The Eagles got the first big play of the night when Jayden Gossett, who was recently moved back to defensive end, made a beautiful move to record a strip sack on the Panthers quarterback as the Eagles Ezequiel Lazarin recovered the ball at midfield. Seven plays later Jaylen Rudisill faked the handoff to Gossett and took it right up the middle thanks to the hole Gossett created to score from two yards out to put Chesnee up 7-0. Chapman responded with a two yard touchdown run from Taylor Dunning to tie the game with just under two minutes left in the first quarter. The big play of the drive was a forty-two yard pass from Drew Settle to DJ Black. After the Panther defense forced a three and a out, a busted coverage allowed Settle to find a wide open DJ Black for the sixty-nine yard score to put the Panthers in front for the first time at 14-7. Three Eagle turnovers in the second quarter led to an additional nineteen points. The first was a thirty-five yard scoop and score on a fumble by Abraham Fyffe to make it 21-7. The Panthers recovered another fumble, this time at the Chesnee twenty-seven yard line, and four plays later Taylor Dunning punched it in from ten yards out to make it 27-7 in favor of Chapman. The next Panthers possession ended on a thirty yard touchdown pass from Drew Settle to Walt Waddell to make the score 33-7. In the second half Chesnee got a spark on offense, just two plays after forcing a stop on defense, as Bryson Thompson took a screen pass sixty-six yards for a score to make it 33-14 early in the third quarter. Chapman responded with a four and a half minute drive that ended on a five yard touchdown pass from Drew Settle to DJ Black. Chesnee's Austin Bigford blocked the PAT to hold it to a 39-14 lead. Early in the fourth quarter after a Chesnee drive ended deep in Panther territory the Eagle defense followed that up with a three and out. The Eagles got a big play on fourth down as a mishap by the Panther's on fourth down resulted in a safety to give the Eagles two more points making the score 39-16 in favor of Chapman. Chesnee made it an eight point swing on the ensuing drive when Adonis Burgess scored from nine yards out to cut the lead to 39-22 after Chapman blocked the ensuing point after attempt. "I'm very proud of the effort tonight," said Lewis. "They hung in there and played hard the whole game until it was over. We have some things we could've done better but our attitude and our effort were good tonight. I can live with that and we will get better." The Panthers added another score on the ensuing drive as Settle once again dialed up Waddell, this time from three yards out to make the score 46-22 in favor of Chapman. Bryson Thompson had a big game for the Eagles finishing with 126 yards overall with sixty yards on the ground and sixty-six yards in the air along with a touchdown. Chapman's Drew Settle completed twenty-eight passes for 384 yards to go along with four touchdowns. Settle's primary targets were DJ Black and Walt Waddell who each ended the night with nine catches and two touchdowns as Black finished the game with 155 yards and Waddell finished the game with 138 yards. Taylor Dunning led the way on the ground for the Panthers as he had 132 yards and two touchdowns. Noah Lawter once again had a big night on defense for the Eagles with six and a half tackles while Dylan Bennett and Austin Bigford each ended the game with five and a half tackles. The Eagles defense forced two turnovers on Friday night with the first being Gossett's strip sack and the second being an interception in the endzone by KJ Valentine. The Eagles will be on the road next Friday as they make the long road trip down to Timberland with a 7:30pm scheduled kickoff. Chesnee volleyball made their current winning streak four in a row, which now includes two straight region victories to start the season, after the Eagles defeated Brashier Middle College 3-0 on Tuesday night.
The Eagles had a complete team effort victory that never allowed Brashier to get close as Chesnee won all three sets by twelve points or more. Chesnee won the first 25-11, the second set 25-13, and the final set by the largest margin with a score of 25-8 to capture the victory. "We served the ball really well tonight with twenty ace serves along with playing well at the net with five blocks," said Chesnee head coach Katie Jolley. "Everyone contributed to our win tonight." Kaitlyn Barrett continued her strong play for the Eagles as she registered twenty-one kills, seven digs, and four ace serves. Pearl Holloway led the Eagles in assists with twenty-seven assists while Kyleigh Thompson finished the match with three kills, nine digs, and five aces serves. Haley Edmonds had a strong night serving the ball as she recorded five ace serves while Jayla Dunn added two kills and two blocks as Brie Smith added two kills and nine digs as well. Chesnee will look to continue both their winning streaks intact when they travel to St. Joseph's on Thursday for another region matchup. Sydney Roberts trophy from her medalist win at the Seneca tournament on Monday didn't even have time to collect dust before she had another prize to add to the trophy case as she came away with medalist honors at the Greenwood Eagles Invitational on Tuesday afternoon.
Roberts backed up her impressive performance on Monday by shooting an even lower score on Tuesday, improving her score by three strokes finishing with a tournament low score of 66, which was six shots below par. She was four shots ahead of the next closest golfer as Kennedy Gooding (Gilbert) and Emily Baker (Chapin) tied for second place as both golfers shot a score of 70 on Tuesday. Sydney Roberts was joined on the All-Tournament team by fellow Chesnee golfer Olivia Roberts, who shot a score of 75, and fellow district golfer Madison Dixon of Boiling Springs, who shot a score of 78 on Tuesday. Gilbert won the overall team match with a score of 315 which was six shots ahead of second place Chapin (321) and thirteen shots ahead of Chesnee (328) who finished in third place for the event. Chesnee will return to the course on Thursday when they host St. Joseph's at Meadowbrook Golf Course. Chesnee girls golf team competed in their second eighteen hole golf tournament of the season on Monday afternoon and came away with the victory at The Jack Golf Tournament held at Cross Creek Golf Course in Seneca, SC.
The Eagles won the tournament with a score of 324 which was six shots ahead of second place Gilbert (330) and twelve shots ahead of third place Seneca (336). "It feels good to pick up the win in only our second eighteen hole tournament this year," said Chesnee head coach Kyle Scruggs. "We knew there was a lot of good teams that we'd be competing against heading towards our goal of a state championship, including a team like Gilbert,C and picking up this victory today kind of encourages us to continue to get better so that maybe we can compete with those teams for a state championship at the end of the year." Chesnee's Sydney Roberts, who committed to play at Clemson just this past weekend, came away with medalist honors in her first tournament since making the commitment by shooting a tournament low score of 69 which was four shots better than the next closest golfer. Roberts bogeyed her first two holes on Monday but gave back with a vengeance against the course by shooting five under the rest of the day. "After getting off to a rough start Sydney really just settled down and shot five under for the rest of the tournament," said Scruggs. "She played really well hitting the ball well and hitting greens, giving herself good looks. The way she bounced back after the rough start just shows a lot of maturity on her part." Roberts was joined on the All-Tournament team by fellow Eagle Olivia Roberts, who shot a 74 and Boiling Springs golfer Madison Dixon who shot a 79 on Thursday. The tournament was the first time that all three golfers had competed on the course in Seneca. Chesnee, along with fellow district school Boiling Springs, will return to the course on Tuesday when they both compete at the Greenwood Invitational at the Stoney Point Golf Course in Greenwood, SC. |
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