Alexandria returns to the floor after missing last weekend’s tournament due to illness, sweeps three opponents
Pleasant Valley’s Maddie Schwabe reaches back to try to save a shot coming from the Alexandria side of the net. On the cover, Alexandria’s Brie Troup (2) focuses on sending the ball back over. (Photos by Ryan Smith/Perfect Vision Photography)
TUESDAY MATCHES Jacksonville, Ashville at Cherokee County Munford 3, Pleasant Grove 0 (25-12, 25-16, 25-15) Piedmont 3, Faith Christian 1 (25-11, 25-11, 17-25, 25-15) Westbrook Christian 3, Gaston 0 (25-10, 25-14, 25-12)
Anniston, Cleburne County at White Plains Cleburne County 3, White Plains 0 (25-15, 25-23, 25-19) White Plains 3, Anniston 0 (25-10, 25-12, 25-13)
Donoho, Pell City at Ohatchee Donoho 2, Pell City 0 (25-19, 25-12) Donoho 2, Ohatchee 1 (25-21, 23-25, 15-11) Ohatchee 2, Pell City 0 (25-17, 25-18)
Pleasant Valley, Wellborn, Lincoln at Alexandria Alexandria 3, Lincoln 0 (25-8, 25-9, 25-18) Pleasant Valley 2, Wellborn 1 (24-26, 25-23, 15-7) Alexandria 2, Pleasant Valley 0 (25-20, 25-14) Wellborn 2, Lincoln 0 (25-14, 25-12) Alexandria 2, Wellborn 0 (25-12, 25-21) Pleasant Valley 2, Lincoln 0 (25-17, 25-14)
Whitney Welch was glad to see her Alexandria volleyball team back on the floor Tuesday night. She’d be happier to see it play be more consistent.
No team wants to be off the floor once they get into the rhythm of the season, but for a team like the Lady Cubs who are still trying to find their own identity after losing a big graduating class any interruption doesn’t help.
Alexandria’s Kailey Dickerson (7) goes up for one of her 24 kills on the night against the defense of Pleasant Valley’s Lily Henry (27) and Madison Schwabe. (Photo by Ryan Smith/Perfect Vision Photography)
The Lady Cubs were back at it after a variety of illnesses swept through the team late last week and kept them from playing in the weekend’s tournament at Vestavia. They looked to be past the worse for it, beating Lincoln in an important area match 3-0 (25-8, 25-9, 25-18) and then swept area rivals Pleasant Valley (25-20, 25-14) and Wellborn (25-12, 25-21).
“I’m just glad they were back on floor,” Welch said. “I think they were excited about being back on the floor, but there’s no way they’re 100 percent.
“When you’re in shape and you sit for four days, it’s going to take you a minute to get back in the swing of things. I saw some good stuff and then I saw us waver. This team’s got to figure that out. I just would like to see us play more consistently, we’re not doing that yet. I thought maybe we could do it tonight, but we didn’t.”
The Lady Cubs (11-1) made easy work of Lincoln in the first match, which, as an area match for a team with one league loss already, was the most important. Against PV, the first set went back and forth until the Lady Cubs closed it out with an 8-3 run and they took control of the second set early and stayed there. They trailed 17-12 in the second set with Wellborn before rallying for the sweep.
“We’re glad to be back out here,” senior middle Brie Troup said after recording 12 kills and four blocks in the three matches. “Coming back after that we were fired up. We wanted to win. We needed this tonight.”
The most resilient team in the quad match was Pleasant Valley. The Lady Raiders arrived with only seven players for a variety of reasons, but they still won two of their three matches. They took a tight one from Wellborn (24-26, 25-23, 15-7) and beat Lincoln (25-17, 25-14). Wellborn beat Lincoln 25-14, 25-12.
The Lady Raiders’ roster was reduced by fall ball conflicts, defections and illness. Coach Dana Bryant brought up developmental players to fill out the roster this past weekend and will add at least three players once the junior high season concludes.
“I say you only need six out there on the court; you’ve got to have six,” she said. “We may not have a whole lot of depth and we’ve got a lot of youth on the court, but they’re fighters, they love the game, they’re learning, they’re growing. We’ve had our ups and we’ve had our downs and hopefully we’ll get back up and stay there.”
The Lady Raiders led the first half of the first set, but Wellborn rallied and put together a 9-4 run down the stretch to win in extra points. The Lady Raiders rallied from deficits of 9-3, 15-4 and 20-13 to win the second set and it was all PV in the tiebreaker. They broke away from the tiebreaker with nine straight points to get to match point.
“(It showed) they’ve got the resilience to come back, they’ve got the fight and the ability to keep putting one foot in front of the other until something happens,” Bryant said. “Our saying this year is keep jumping rope. We just keep jumping rope.”
With only a limited number of players available, the Lady Raiders had to spread the wealth. Allie Bryant had a big game with 18 kills, 26 assists, 10 aces and 12 digs, but Lily Henry had 24 kills and 16 digs, and Maddie Schwabe had 13 kills and 32 assists.
ALEXANDRIA (3 matches)
KIL
AST
ACE
DIG
BLK
Kailey Dickerson
23
3
11
3
Brie Troup
12
2
5
4
Eryn Spradley
9
1
4
Christian Hess
30
3
1
Pressley Slaton
25
1
Devan White
3
3
4
9
Ava Johnson
4
5
20
Kirsten Heathcock
1
1
1
Brenlee Sparks
8
15
Lauren Weber
5
1
3
Madison Foster
Clancy Bright
1
1
Cassidy Hartsfield
5
2
3
PLEASANT VALLEY (3 matches)
KIL
AST
ACE
DIG
BLK
Lily Henry
24
1
4
16
1
Ella Parris
3
4
7
1
Allie Bryant
18
26
10
12
Maddie Schwabe
13
32
4
15
1
Madison Schwabe
4
3
1
14
1
Ellie Patterson
1
1
Madi Hay
2
11
Donoho’s Estella Connell (9) goes up to block Ohatchee’s Jorda Crook. Connell made the block and the top-ranked Lady Falcons went on to beat their hosts. (Photo by B.J. Franklin)
Donoho outduels Ohatchee
OHATCHEE – Two of the top teams in Calhoun County couldn’t have played it tighter. Donoho won a close first set, Ohatchee came back to take a close second set that tied the match and Donoho won the tiebreaker that was back-and-forth.
Lily Grace Draper had 11 kills and Estella Connell had four of Donoho’s eight blocks in the match as the Lady Falcons made sure they fronted Ohatchee’s Jorda Crook at all times. Crook had 31 kills and five blocks in the Tribe’s two matches.
“It was a hard-earned win against a very talented Ohatchee team,” Donoho coach Anna Taylor said. “We have really been working on a few areas in practice and our players did a great job of bringing those strategies to the court tonight. We fought back from deficits several times, played with heart and truly made it a team win.”
Both county teams swept Pell City.
OHATCHEE (2 matches)
KIL
AST
ACE
DIG
BLK
Jorda Crook
31
13
5
Gracyn Snow
8
18
Hannah Fitch
15
11
Rebecca Henderson
6
16
Alanah Fitch
6
23
14
Brett Finn
4
Ellie Carden
11
DONOHO(2 matches)
KIL
AST
ACE
DIG
BLK
Lily Grace Draper
23
2
13
Ansley Simmons
4
4
1
Estella Connell
9
4
Ryals Jones
7
1
1
2
Mary Marshall Perry
6
3
3
1
Sam Wakefield
3
50
3
9
Sarah Waggoner
3
1
19
Hannah Sprayberry
1
3
10
Kate Williamon
4
Blair Kitchen
4
White Plains, Oxford earn splits
Oxford split a pair of matches, falling to Hewitt-Trussville 28-26, 25-17 and beating Springville 19-25, 25-19, 15-5. Abbie Mitchell led the Lady Jackets (6-8) with 14 kills. JaMea Gaston had 28 digs and Payton Brooks 33 assists.
White Plains beat Anniston 3-0 and fell to Cleburne County 3-0. The Lady Wildcats were led by Taylor Hodge, Bella Higgins and Cooper Martin. Hodge had nine kills, three aces and three blocks. Higgins had seven kills, 13 aces and 10 digs. Martin had six kills, 10 aces and 12 digs.
OXFORD (2 matches)
KIL
AST
ACE
DIG
BLK
Abbie Mitchell
14
5
JaMea Gaston
28
Payton Brooks
33
14
Ashlyn Burns
8
Kaelyn Crossley
5
17
Daelyn Bozeman
7
Mileah Prince
11
Marilyn Pool
4
Jaslyn Montgomery
12
Munford keeps moving
The Lady Lions (11-2) carried the momentum of its big win over Cleburne County the day before to a sweep of Pleasant Grove in three sets, 25-12, 25-16, 25-15.
MUNFORD
KIL
AST
ACE
DIG
BLK
Kyleigh Hurst
2
18
4
2
Anijah Gladden
6
4
5
Ashtyn Bishop
3
5
Ellie Jones
4
1
4
2
1
Blair Darby
3
4
5
1
Kaylyn Turner
4
1
2
1
Teriaunna Davis
1
Westbrook moves to 10-0
Junior Raegan Harrell registered eight kills seven aces and freshman Raylee Neal had 16 assists to lead Westbrook Christian to its tenth straight win, 25-10, 25-14, 25-12 over Gaston. The Lady Warriors still have not lost a set this season.
WESTBROOK
KIL
AST
ACE
DIG
BLK
Raylee Neal
2
16
3
2
Raegan Harrell
8
7
Taylor Meador
2
2
1
Ellison Stewart
5
5
Marley Cox
2
1
3
2
Piedmont 3, Faith Christian 1
PIEDMONT
KIL
AST
ACE
DIG
BLK
Ta’Leaha Ridley
11
3
Jaycee Glover
3
20
1
12
Armoni Perry
5
2
2
Jenna Calvert
1
2
1
Emma Grace Todd
2
4
1
1
Casey Brothers
2
2
5
Cayla Brothers
8
Carson Young
3
Donoho’s Sam Wakefield (5) and Lily Grace Draper (R) share a light moment with teammate Estella Connell during their match at Ohatchee Tuesday night. (Photo by B.J. Franklin)
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