Hartselle dominates region

By By Todd Thompson, Hartselle Enquirer
BOAZ - Hartselle assured itself one final match at home with a sweep of the Class 5A, Region D tournament Saturday at Boaz High School.
The Lady Tigers went 3-0 in the tournament with wins over Lee, Arab and Muscle Shoals to claim the region title.
The championship sets up a sub-state matchup with Central-Tuscaloosa at 4:30 p.m. Thursday (today) at the Pettey Center with a spot in the Elite Eight tournament in Pelham next week on the line.
Muscle Shoals will host Curry in its sub-state matchup Thursday. Arab and Boaz also advanced from the Region D tournament and will travel for sub-state matches this week.
The top four teams in the region tournament advanced to the sub-state round this week. Hartselle needs a win over Central-Tuscaloosa to reach the state tournament for the fourth straight year.
Hartselle was knocked from the Elite Eight tournament in the first round last year with a loss to Briarwood Christian.
Olivia Golden led the Lady Tigers with 50 digs in the three matches. Also recording double-digit dig totals were Chelsea Bennich (46), Callie Miller (38), Cory Livingston (35) and Alex Holmes (23).
Golden also had 20 kills, 33 assists and a block in the win.
Livingston finished the tournament with a team-high 27 kills. She also had seven assists, two aces and three blocks.
Holmes had 24 kills, 44 assists, two aces and 16 blocks in the win, while Miller had 38 digs, three assists and four aces for Hartselle, while Kelly-Grace Johnson added 11 blocks, two assists, seven kills and three digs.
The Lady Tigers also got 18 kills, nine digs and 15 blocks from Katelyn Hill and 13 kills, three digs, two assists and three blocks from Savannah Lacey.
Bennich added four aces.
Hartselle, fresh off county and area championships, did not lose a single game in the region tournament. The Lady Tigers opened with a 25-8, 25-13, 25-13 victory over Lee and beat Arab 31-29, 25-24, 25-17 in a hard-fought semifinal match that set up a rematch with Muscle Shoals in the championship game.
After a grueling first game, Hartselle pulled away for the win.
Both Hartselle and Muscle Shoals finished the regular season ranked in the top five in the state.
Hartselle dominated the Lady Trojans 25-22, 25-20, 25-16 in the final.
The Lady Tigers’ win over Muscle Shoals was the team’s second in a span of less than a week - beat ing Muscle Shoals Tuesday in the area finals.