MONTGOMERY – Opp’s Caiden Harrell served 17 aces to help lead the Lady Bobcats to a 3-0 (25-3, 25-8, 25-11) victory over Greensboro in the first round of the Class 3A South Super Regional on Friday afternoon.

The Lady Bobcats dominated their service game throughout the entire match in the Multiplex at the Cramton Bowl in the capital city, making a statement for their next opponent, Cottage Hill Christian Academy, who beat Trinity Presbyterian 3-1. CHCA won its last three games of its match over TPA.

OHS will face CHCA today at 9 a.m. in the second round of the regional tournament.

“Sometimes I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing,” OHS coach Christie Spurlin said about her team’s service points. “We tend to play like our opponents. When we don’t have to move, we forget. They did well to get back in it.”

Laiken Free and Nisha Stoudemire had nine attacks and five kills each in the win.

Spurlin said she believes her girls match up well with CHCA.

“They’re going to give us some competition,” she said. “We can play with them. Hopefully, we’ll win.”

 

Sipsey Valley 3, Straughn 1

So close, but yet so far.

Straughn was two points shy of taking its match to a fifth game against Sipsey Valley, but the Lady Tigers couldn’t bounce back from an early hole to fall 17-25, 22-25, 25-20, 23-25.

SHS and SVHS were tied 23-23, but an errant serve in the net put the Lady Bears ahead for good.

“There’s something that’s kind of been nagging us all year, digging these holes (for us),” SHS coach Marc Tracy said. “We dig a hole and it’s hard to get out of it. We came back and had a chance to tie it up, possibly to win that fourth game.

“That’s what comes with it,” he said. “You dig yourself a hole like that, and there at the end, that one (serve) can make a difference.”

Straughn’s best game came in the second, where it led 16-11 and 20-16 at critical points. However, the Lady Bears bounced back in the end to go up 2-0.

“We played really well,” Tracy said about the second game. “They ended up winning it, but we were able to pull a little tighter. A lot of it was nerves. We were very tense in the beginning, and I felt like we definitely improved throughout the match.”

The Lady Tigers took a 20-19 lead late in the third game and led 23-20 down the stretch to force a game four.

“We did a good job of closing that one out,” Tracy said. “It’s a few balls here and there. That’s what it comes down to.”

SHS trailed 3-8 in the fourth game, but rallied to bring the game to 10-12.

Slowly but surely, the Lady Tigers crept back in the game and with a Jacie Williamson block, SHS trailed 19-21.

Straughn’s Evan Frye had nine service points; Angel Carter had eight service points and five digs; Williamson had 10 service points, eight blocks and 12 kills; Paige Taylor had nine service points; and Emily Hammett had six service points and eight assists.

The Lady Tigers ended the season 13-12.