Tourney finals set
- Updated: October 7, 2017
Top two seeds Pleasant Valley, Alexandria to meet for third time for Calhoun County Tournament title
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By East Alabama Sports Today
JACKSONVILLE — The Calhoun County Volleyball Tournament finals are set and it’ll be a match between the top two seeds who have different finals experience.
No. 1 Pleasant Valley and No. 2 Alexandria held serve so to speak and will play in the finals Monday at Jacksonville State (weather permitting).
PV swept No. 4 Oxford in one semifinal 25-11, 25-17, 25-23. The Lady Raiders (36-3) are playing in the finals for the third year in a row looking to finally break through after coming up short the last two years.
“It’s exciting to be back and have the opportunity to play in the finals again,” PV coach Dana Bryant said. “Past that, we’ve got to show up.”
Alexandria (25-5) swept upstart but spent No. 6 Faith Christian 25-17, 25-14, 25-14. The Lady Cubs haven’t played in the county finals since 2011.
“I think it’s meaningful, I’m excited about it,” Lady Cubs coach Whitney Welch said. “We’ve been talking about playing in it for a few years and we couldn’t get it done last year. We still had a great year last year but they wanted to play in that game and we couldn’t get it done, so I’m excited for them. We need to play on a stage like that … because it’s going to make us a lot better.”
Pleasant Valley was the heavy favorite to reach the finals — and the EA Sports Today fan poll’s pick to win it — but it didn’t start out well for the Lady Raiders. They lost the first set of their first match against Weaver, but got mad and regrouped and won the next six sets they played in a row.
They are now 19-1 this season against teams from Calhoun County.
Class 1A Faith reached the semifinals by beating Donoho in three sets and then stunning No. 3 Jacksonville 17-25, 25-20, 25-23, 27-25. Alexandria beat Wellborn 25-17, 25-14, 25-16 in its first tournament match.
Tournament officials are watching the weather to see if Hurricane Nate will impact the playing of the finals as scheduled. The coaches are hopeful.
To see a gallery of photos from the day’s action visit www.bjfranklin.smugmug.com throughout the day.
2017 CALHOUN COUNTY VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT
Saturday, Jacksonville HS
First-round games
No. 12 White Plains 3, No. 13 Ohatchee 0 (25-12, 25-19, 25-14)
No. 11 Donoho 3, No. 14 JCA 0 (25-13, 25-18, 25-13)
No. 10 Piedmont 3, No. 15 Anniston 0 (25-5, 25-5, 25-7)
Second-round games
No. 8 Weaver 3, No. 9 Sacred Heart 2 (26-24, 21-25, 25-17, 24-26, 15-5)
No. 5 Saks 3, White Plains 0 (25-10, 25-18, 25-21)
No. 6 Faith Christian 3, Donoho 0 (25-11, 25-14, 25-15)
No. 7 Wellborn 3, Piedmont 0 (25-16, 25-16, 25-15)
Quarterfinals
No. 1 Pleasant Valley 3, Weaver 1 (22-25, 25-10, 25-6, 25-17)
No. 4 Oxford 3, Saks 0 (25-18, 25-17, 25-21)
Faith 3, No. 3 Jacksonville 1 (17-25, 25-20, 25-23, 27-25)
No. 2 Alexandria 3, Wellborn 0 (25-17, 25-14, 25-16)
Semifinals
Pleasant Valley 3, Oxford 0 (25-11, 25-17, 25-23)
Alexandria 3, Faith 0 (25-17, 25-14, 25-14)
Championship game
Monday, Jacksonville State
No. 1 Pleasant Valley (36-3) vs. No. 2 Alexandria (25-5), 7:30 p.m.
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