Lady Eagles sweep in tri-match

Published 12:02 am Friday, October 12, 2012

Pleasant Home’s Abigail Kelley passes the ball during her match against Laurel Hill Thursday night. | Andrew Garner/Star-News

Pleasant Home coach Jerry Davis said volleyball is a game of momentum.

He was right on Thursday night.

The Lady Eagles got their needed momentum to sweep Red Level and Laurel Hill 2-0 each in a tri-match at PHS.

PHS (18-4) cruised through its first match against RLS (0-9) with a 25-6, 25-7 victory. LHHS beat RLS 25-8 in the first game of the second match, but the Lady Tigers proved resourceful in the match decider as they rallied late despite the 25-16 loss.

Before their match against LHHS, Pleasant Home’s seven seniors — Emily Byrd, Taylor Godwin, Ashley Copeland, Abigail Kelley, Courtney Slaughter, Raven Woods and Kim Reed were recognized for their senior night. They’ve been playing for the school since their seventh grade year, and they showed how much they’ve played together as they helped PHS in its 25-18, 25-12 victory.

Davis said despite the win, the girls tend to “give a lot of points away.”

“It’s not because of a lack of effort,” he said. “We’ll hit a serve out when we’ve got a roll going. It’s routine plays and then we’ll hit it out of bounds.

“Volleyball is all about momentum,” he said. “When you get it going, you get it rolling, but when you break yourself, that’s where it hurts you.”

Pleasant Home led 15-9 in the first game over LHHS even though it trailed early 1-3 on a slow start

The Lady Eagles bounced back, finding holes in the Lady Hoboes’ defensive set.

Slaughter hit a hard kill down the court for a 19-10 lead to PHS later on in the first game.

From there, Pleasant Home was outscored by LHHS 8-6.

In the second game, the Lady Eagles trudged out to a solid 6-2 lead and never gave it up on their way to a 14-7 advantage at the mid-point.

Davis said he thought the girls played real well in the last game.

“Laurel Hill has improved a lot,” he said. “I wasn’t sure what we were going to get.

“In the first set, we just survived it, “he said. “I was glad to get the win. We finished it up and now we’re preparing to play the winner of Kinston and Florala next Friday and see where we’ll go.”

PHS already has a berth to play in the Class 1A Super Regional Tournament in Montgomery on the last weekend of the month because it won its regular season area championship.

The Lady Eagles will play in the Class 1A, Area 2 tournament next Friday afternoon at PHS.

Laurel Hill 2, Red Level 0

The Lady Hoboes’ service game was just too much for RLS.

However, the Lady Tigers had some rallies on volleys by communicating well on a team level.

LHHS led 14-4 and cruised to the first-game, 25-8 win.

Red Level will play in the Class 1A, Area 3 tournament on Thursday at Brantley. First match starts at 4 p.m.