Hartselle, Danville meet similar state fates

By By Todd Thompson, Hartselle Enquirer
PELHAM – State bids by the Hartselle and Danville volleyball teams came to an end Wednesday with losses in the Elite Eight tournament at the Pelham Civic Complex.
Hartselle was knocked from the tournament with a 25-20, 25-19, 25-21 loss to St. Paul’s in the Class 5A semifinals.
The Lady Tigers finished their season with a 61-13 mark, setting a school record for wins in a season.
Hartselle opened the tournament Wednesday morning with a 22-25, 25-9, 25-20, 25-18 win over John Carroll.
Cory Livingston and Olivia Golden finished with 16 kills each in the first-round win. Alex Holmes added 15 for the Lady Tigers.
Holmes, who was named to the all-tournament team, had team-highs with four blocks and 22 assists. The senior also had eight digs.
Livingston finished with 14 digs, six assists and two blocks, while Golden had 13 assists and 16 digs. Callie Miller added 16 digs and Chelsea Bennich chipped in with seven digs.
John Carroll’s Reagan Youngs had nine kills in the loss.
In the deciding game of the semifinals, St. Paul’s took a 19-11 advantage and was just six points from wrapping up the match when Hartselle won seven straight points.
But St. Paul’s held off the late challenge to earn the victory.
Livingston had eight kills against St. Paul’s to go with her 12 digs and a block. Olivia Golden added six kills, eight assists, one ace and a block.
Callie Miller had a team-high 18 digs. She added an pair of aces in the loss.
Holmes finished with four kills, nine assists, two aces, 12 digs and a block.
Savannah Lacey, Kelly-Grace Johnson and Savanne Howard added a kill each.
Johnson also had a block and a dig.
Danville exits early
Danville suffered its earliest exit from the Elite Eight tournament in recent years with a 25-22, 25-12, 23-25, 25-8 loss to Montgomery Academy in the opening round of the Class 3A state championship bracket.
The Lady Hawks finished the season with a 40-21 record after reaching the Elite Eight for the fifth straight season.
But Danville struggled against Montgomery Academy’s dominating serves in the match that went to four games after the Lady Hawks rallied to beat the Lady Eagles in the third game.
Montgomery Academy had nine service aces in the match, with middle hitter Margaret Virden picking up seven aces.
The success on the serves kept Danville out of its offense.
Lindsay Simmons had a team-high 10 kills in the match. She also finished with two blocks and three digs for Danville.
Tara Wimberley added seven kills, 16 digs, three aces and a block in the loss. Ashley Nance had five kills and Lacey Evans finished with 16 digs and two aces. Morgan Doherty chipped in with four kills and 12 digs, while Kaitlin Wallace had six digs and 20 assists.
Montgomery Academy’s Meredith Lee had 10 kills, 11 digs and four blocks for the Lady Eagles. Alex Garcia added seven kills, two blocks and seven digs.
But it was the work on the serves that sent Montgomery Academy to the win. Garcia and Layne Doctson had an ace each to add to Virden’s seven aces.
Montgomery Acad-emy’s game plan early, was stopping the attack power from Simmons and Nance.
Danville was facing a sweep in the third game, but the Lady Hawks took advantage of several Montgomery Academy unforced errors to pick up the win and force a fourth game.
Montgomery Academy, who lost to defending state champion Bayside Academy in the championship match, took control in the fourth game and sealed up the win over Danville.