J’ville shuts down Saks

Golden Eagles rebound from weekend tournament loss to collect bigger area prize

By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today

JACKSONVILLE — Just three days earlier, the players left the floor disappointed with a loss in an early-morning battle between two of the strongest teams in the county that left them playing for silver the rest of the day.

The only thing that made it a little easier to take was the knowledge they’d be playing for bigger stakes Tuesday night.

And Jacksonville’s seventh-ranked volleyball team gained a huge measure of revenge in their more-important area opener, beating third-ranked Saks 3-1. The set scores were 26-24, 25-20, 20-25, 28-26.

“I think (Saturday) definitely gave us some motivation for today,” Jacksonville coach David Clark said. “Not that Saks didn’t have the incentive, but the loss – if you want to say it ever helps you – it might have helped us a little bit because we were more prepared for them and the kind of style they play and we really wanted to get that one back.”

It was the third time this year the Golden Eagles (16-5) bounced back to beat a county rival they lost to only a few days before.

They did it to Oxford and Alexandria, two of the other teams that will be vying for the top four seeds at next Wednesday’s County Tournament seeding meeting in Jacksonville’s library.

“That’s kind of been our M.O. this year,” Clark said. “I know the County seed meeting is going to be real interesting. I don’t know how you’re going to seed all these people. I’m really interested to see how the voting goes. I really don’t even know how I’m going to vote.”

In last Saturday’s match, the Golden Eagles won the first set but dropped the second and gave up the final five points of the tiebreaker. Tuesday night, they came from behind in all three sets they won.

Saks (17-2) had lost only four sets all season coming into the match.

Jacksonville opened a 14-8 lead in the first set. Saks called time and then went on a 14-4 run to take a 22-17 lead. The Golden Eagles tied it at 23 and 24, then Halee Holtbrooks scored two serves that crawled atop the net before falling for the win.

Saks jumped to leads of 6-0 and 8-1 in the second set before Jacksonville roared back to tie it at 8. The Golden Eagles then took control with an 11-3 run in the middle of the set.

The lead went back and forth in the fourth set. Saks led 24-22 serving set point, but Jacksonville tied it at 24 and 25. Saks’ Tayler Teague tied it at 26, but Jacksonville scored the last two points, clinching the match when the Lady Wildcats couldn’t return another Holtbrooks serve.

“It’s disappointing all the way across,” Saks coach Randy Law said. “They attacked us. They served the ball hard and we didn’t serve receive and that kept us from attacking them. After we beat them Saturday we knew it was going to be a dogfight. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. We’ve got to get that killer instinct. We didn’t put them away when we had the chance.”

Elizabeth Poe (18 kills), Sierra Stone (16) and Aliyah Robinson (14) were dominant at the net for Jacksonville. Poe had a team-leading 18 kills and five blocks. Stone had 16 kills and five blocks. Robinson had 14 kills.

Holtbrooks had 43 assists and Reagan Stallings had 23 digs.

“Saturday really opened up our eyes,” Robinson said. “We were kind of going into it thinking it was going to be a breeze, a little bit, but seeing the momentum and how they want it as much as us, their actions really showed us we had to come tonight strong and I feel like tonight we really brought it.

“It really set the pace for us the rest of the season, letting everybody know that Jacksonville may have started off slow but don’t underestimate us.”

Teague had 12 kills, four aces and 10 digs for Saks. Jordan Briskey had eight kills, 20 digs and three blocks. Maiya Northard had five kills and five blocks. Baylee Snider had eight kills and eight digs. Jaelyn Wilson had four kills, nine digs, five blocks and 24 assists.

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