Donoho clinches
- Updated: September 30, 2019
Lady Falcons overcome illness, early deficit to beat Sacred Heart and clinch the top seed in their area
Monday’s matches
Donoho 3, Sacred Heart 1 (12-25, 26-16, 25-16, 27-25)
Jacksonville 2, Oxford 0 (25-23, 25-20)
Jacksonville 2, Southside 0 (25-17, 25-19)
Pleasant Valley 3, Piedmont 0 (26-24, 25-11, 25-8)
Southside 2, Oxford 1 (21-25, 25-21, 15-3)
Faith Christian 2, Saks 0 (25-12, 25-12)
Faith Christian 2, Talladega 0 (25-29, 25-17)
Saks vs. Talladega
White Plains at Wellborn
Cleburne County at Wellborn
White Plains vs. Cleburne County
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
Lily Grace Draper was feeling so ill Monday she really didn’t want to go to school, but she knew if she didn’t she couldn’t play in Donoho’s volleyball match that night and it was too important a match to miss.
So, the freshman outside hitter sucked it up, got a shot and helped her team rally to beat Sacred Heart 3-1 to clinch the No. 1 seed and hosting rights for the Class 1A Area 10 tournament later in October. It was 13-25, 25-16, 25-16, 27-25.
Draper had a team-high 14 kills and four aces. She had the winner that put the third set away and back-to-back kills to tie the fourth set at 20.
“I didn’t feel like going, but I knew I needed to go to be able to play tonight,” Draper said. “I couldn’t even concentrate at school I felt so bad. I left like fifth period and got two shots. This was a very important match because it would let us be host and that would really help us make it to Huntsville.”
Given the power structure of the Area 10, by winning Monday night the Lady Falcons just about punched their ticket to the regionals in Huntsville. They play fourth-seed JCA, the No. 14 seed in this weekend’s Calhoun County Tournament, in the opening round of their area tournament, leaving Sacred Heart and Faith to fight it out for the area’s second regional spot.
Donoho coach Jamie Clendenin would never presume it’s a done deal. The first time the Lady Falcons played JCA, they trailed 19-18 in the first set and 10-2 in another.
Actually, both of the Lady Falcons’ outside hitters, Draper and Mercy Mangum, were under the weather. They both were battling bronchitis they had been fighting since the weekend, but both excelled in the match. Mangum was second on the team with 10 kills and had the match-clinching kill in the fourth set.
They were outplayed in the first set, perhaps a carryover from a 132-error, 0-4 run in the weekend’s Decatur Heritage tournament, but they picked it up in the next two sets. They rallied from 24-21 down to win the third set. Two of Maggie Wakefield’s eight kills tied the match at 24 and 25. Mya Keel put them ahead 26-25 and Mangum clinched it.
“It’s 24-21, Sacred Heart has made a push towards the end of the game and I’m thinking if they take this set we’re not hosting,” Clendenin said. “If we’re not mentally tough when we get to that game we may not make it out.”
Mary Marshall Perry was “huge” in the Lady Falcons in the fourth set, standing up to Sacred Heart’s Amiyah Buchanan at the net and delivering big hit after big hit. She had six kills in the match.
“At the end of the game she took over when we needed it,” Clendenin said. “She was the only one swinging it at the end of the game and that was huge because everybody else was buckled down, on their toes ready to tip, and when she swung they weren’t ready.”
“Mary Marshall was killing it; she was really critical to us coming back,” Draper said. “She really killed it.”
The ailing Lady Falcons have no time to rest. Draper and Mangum can’t afford to miss school Tuesday because the Lady Falcons play area rival Faith Christian in a non-area match and Alexandria in a potential preview of the county tournament semifinals.
Maybe Wednesday they can take off.
Donoho 3, Sacred Heart 1
(Donoho statistics)
KILLS: Lily Grace Draper 12, Mary Marshall Perry 6, Mercy Mangum 10, Maggie Wakefield 8, Yana Osovska 1, Mya Keel 2.
ASSISTS: Maggie Miller 32, Mya Keel 1.
ACES: Lily Grace Draper 4, Mary Marshall Perry 4, Mercy Mangum 1, Maggie Miller 2, Mya Keel 2, Ayesha Siddiqua 1.
DIGS: Lily Grace Draper 4, Mary Marshall Perry 1, Mercy Mangum 2, Maggie Miller 1, Mya Keel 10, Sarah Waggoner 5, Naira Rahman 1, Ayesha Siddiqua 3, Kate Porteous 2.
BLOCKS: Mary Marshall Perry 1, Maggie Wakefield 2.
Jacksonville 2, Oxford 0
Southside 2, Oxford 1
(Oxford statistics)
KILLS: Lakijah Brown 11, Shania Vincent 9, Aumaria Lindsey 10.
DIGS: Lakijah Brown 5, Shania Vincent 6, Cadie Burn 7, Aametria Wilson 7, Brittany Davis 11.
ASSISTS: Cadie Burn 35.
Faith Christian 2, Saks 0
Faith Christian 2, Talladega 0
(Faith Christian statistics)
KILLS: Sydnee Johnson 14, Sarah Jessica Christjohn 10.
ASSISTS: Lily Becke 15, Anna Kerri Davis 13.
ACES: Sydnee Johnson 2, Lily Beck 4, Anna Kerri Davis 3.
BLOCKS: Sydnee Johnson 3.
Pleasant Valley 3, Piedmont 0
(Pleasant Valley statistics)
KILLS: Leah Patterson 10, Mattie Glass 7, Karmyn Sparks 13, Madison Borders 6, Rylee Haynes 4,
ASSISTS: Allie Bryant 1, Rylee Haynes 32.
ACES: Lee Patterson 2, Madison Borders 3, Allie Bryant 6, Rylee Haynes 2,
DIGS: Leah Patterson 4, Mattie Glass 4, Karmyn Sparks 1, Madison Borders 2, Allie Bryant 3, Taylor Nix 6.
BLOCKS: Leah Patterson 2, Karmyn Sparks 2, Madison Borders 1, Rylee Haynes 1.
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