Lady Hawks get best of Hartselle in finals

By By Todd Thompson, Hartselle Enquirer
DANVILLE - There’s something special about Danville’s first county volleyball championship in six years.
Not that the 2002 championship was’t nice. It just didn’t have the same clout as winning the 2008 Morgan County championship Thursday at Danville Middle School.
The Lady Hawks beat Hartselle 25-21, 25-23 in the finals to claim the school’s first county championship since the current nine-team format was instituted several years ago.
Danville, who last reached the county finals in 2006 before losing to Brewer, went through the tournament winning all eight of its games in four matches.
Jordan Spinks and Lindsay Simmons finished with 40 and 31 kills respectively for the Lady Hawks.
Spinks added eight digs and two blocks, while Simmons finished with four aces, two blocks and five digs. Kirby Wallace had 13 kills and 17 assists, while Kaitlin Wallace finished with 31 assists and eight aces.
The Lady Hawks got six blocks from Ashley Nance and seven kills, six assists, six aces and nine digs in the win. Lacey Evans chipped in with 21 digs, while Morgan Doherty had three digs and two aces.
Kimberly Lindsay had 46 assists for Danville. Tara Wimberly had four digs and three assists.
The win over Hartselle, the same team that eliminated the Lady Hawks from the Brewer Invitational earlier this year, certainly shows Danville is on the right track as teams try to earn spots in the Elite Eight tournament later this month.
In the opening game against the Class 5A Lady Tigers, the two teams faced eight ties before Danville scored five of the last six points to take a four-point win.
The two teams also battled through five ties in the second game before Hartselle pulled out to an 18-12 advantage with points on a tip and a block by Cerra Little.
After scoring to make it 19-13, Hartselle suddenly lost its momentum. Danville scored six straight points to tie the game at 19-19.
After two more ties, Danville scored the four times on kills by Simmons and Spinks and a tip by Ashley Nance to wrap up the title.
Little and co-coach Spencer Cole were worried that the Lady Hawks would have a letdown after an emotional win over Austin in the semifinals. Instead, the Lady Hawks just kept plugging away on their home court.
Hartselle’s Chandler Orr finished the tournament with 27 kills, 21 digs and nine aces, while Mallory Jones had 16 kills, seven digs and three aces. Little contributed 10 kills, 62 assists and 26 digs for the Lady Tigers. Olivia Golden had 40 digs, six aces and 15 kills, while Callie Miller added 40 digs.
Golden was playing out of position after Hartselle lost Cory Livingston to a knee injury forcing Lybarger to make some adjustments just before the start of the tournament.
Both teams went through pool play unbeaten. Danville beat Decatur 25-12, 25-13 and Decatur Heritage 25-21, 25-17 to reach the semifinals as the tournament’s top seed.
Hartselle beat Priceville 25-12, 25-4 and West Morgan 25-20, 25-8 to earn the second seed and a spot in the semifinals.
The Lady Patriots beat Austin 25-15, 25-22 and Falkville 25-16, 25-8 in pool play.
Brewer finished pool play with a perfect record, but the Lady Patriots were eliminated with a 25-15, 25-11 loss to Hartselle in the semifianls.
Brewer’s Hannah Chunn and Whitney Borden finished with 17 kills each, while Kendra Jones added 16 kills in the tournament. Chelsea Smith finished with 13 kills.
Chunn and Smith had 10 and eight assists each in the tournament. Hannah Crawford had 18 digs.
Danville’s Kirby Wallace, Jordan Spinks, Chelsea Keenum and Lindsay Simmons were named to the all-tournament team after the championship. They were joined on the team by Hartselle’s Chandler Orr, Cerra Little and Mallory Jones; Priceville’s Jordan Crow; Falkville’s Paige McCarley; and Brewer’s Hannah Chunn and Kendra Jones.