Clinching times
- Updated: October 6, 2020
Wellborn, Pleasant Valley clinch top seeds in their area tournaments; Donoho avenges tourney loss, Clendenin gets No. 100
Tuesday’s matches
Donoho 3, Oxford 0 (26-24, 25-10, 25-16)
Pleasant Valley 3, Ohatchee 1 (27-25, 18-25, 25-20, 25-20)
Wellborn 3, Saks 0
By East Alabama Sports Today
There was a lot at stake for the winner of Tuesday night’s Wellborn-Saks match.
Wellborn took a 3-0 victory. The Lady Panthers clinched the top seed and hosting rights for their three-team Class 3A Area 9 tournament and automatically earned a trip to the sub-regionals in the process. Saks and Childersburg will play for the other subregion spot and a place in the area tournament finals.
PV clinches, hosts area
Leah Patterson had 10 kills and 11 digs, Lily Henry had 10 kills and Pleasant Valley pulled away in the last two sets to beat Ohatchee 3-1 and clinch another area regular-season title. The Lady Raiders (21-4) will host the Class 3A Area 11 area tournament.
Rylee Haynes had 33 assists for PV, Tori Turner had six blocks and Allie Bryant had 28 digs and four aces.
Clendenin gets 100th
Donoho earned a measure of revenge for its loss in the Calhoun County Tournament quarterfinals and gave head coach Jamie Clendenin his 100thvarsity coaching victory in the process.
The Lady Falcons lost to Oxford for the first time in five meetings on their own floor in the tournament, but rebounded with a 26-24, 25-10, 25-16 victory Tuesday.
“I almost feel like it was one of the points in the season when you get beat and it kind of wakes everybody up,” Clendenin said. “That was the one. We had beaten Oxford four times and we came in like we were going to do it. I think it was important to get that loss. Their approach is going to be much different the rest of the season.
“I told them now we’re five of six (against Oxford) and the one we lost was the one that mattered. Let’s quit looking at what we’ve done and start focusing on what we’re going to do.”
Mercy Mangum had a big night with 14 kills. Mary Marshall Perry was strong with the serve finding open spots on the floor. Maggie Miller had her usual solid night with 19 assists. Lily Grace Draper played all the way around the floor for the first time this season and had 13 kills and 10 digs.
The victory was Clendenin’s 100th in three seasons as a varsity head coach. His team won 31 his first season, 45 in last year’s state title season and has 24 this year. It puts him about 1,000 behind Jacksonville coach David Clark. “I’m definitely far behind,” he said.
As much as it was a career milestone, Clendenin thought of it as just another match.
“I feel if you chase numbers like that you’re not putting your team in the best position to be successful,” he said. “I could’ve put us in some tournaments where we had a good 85 percent chance to win a tournament, but we go to Guntersville where those games (against 6A and 7A programs) make us better. And you go there to get better.”
Lakijah Brown led Oxford with eight killsl and 16 digs. Javanti Moore and Channing Galllahar had four kills each, Ashely Paulson had six digs, Ari Curry had five digs and Adrionna Foster had five assists.
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