Walton def. Pope as both teams make GHSA volleyball history in first ever outdoor match

Walton defeated Pope 3-1 in historic outdoor GHSA volleyball match

With the 2025 Georgia High School Association underway, the Pope Greyhounds and Walton Raiders took their places in history on Saturday when the Greyhounds hosted the Raiders in the first ever GHSA volleyball match to take place outdoors.

Dubbed 'The Backyard Brawl', as the two school are separated by just 3.5 miles, the match took place on a court surface placed on the Pope football field in front of a crowd which filled out the entire home side of the stadium.

"Perfect environment, perfect situation to want to play really well," Pope head coach, Erica Miller said following the match in which the Greyhounds would fall 3-1 for their first loss of the season. "We're so thankful for our fans, our athletic director, out parents, who put a great show together," Miller said of Saturday's historic match.

"I'm very blessed. This is my first season at Walton and so this was kind of already set up as I was being hired so I'm very blessed to be apart of this experience, it's very cool," Walton head coach, Ashley Jones, said following the Raiders win.

As for the match in itself, weather condition were ideal with the temperature just above 80 degrees and calm winds at the start in which the Raiders would open up the first set on a 6-2 run, but Pope would respond with a 4-0 run to tie the set 6-6 before going on to win it 25-23.

However, the Raiders would settle in throughout the remainder of the match winning the next three sets to win the match 3-1 as they handed Pope their first loss of the early season and improved to 2-0 on their end.

"There were some adjustments that had to be made. The heat for one, hydrating all week to make sure we were prepared, but at the same time just enjoying the experience and making sure that we were really taking it in and not taking anything for granted," Jones said of wanted her girls to understand the value of the history making day while staying focused on their game plan.

"I think that they listened to critique very well. We made some adjustments and I gave them some things to change after the first set and they did everything that I asked them to so could not ask for more as a coach," Jones added.

With the win, Walton moves to 2-0 on the season while Pope drops to 2-1.