Hartselle wins county
The Hartselle volleyball team defeated Danville to win the Morgan County Tournament Thursday. Team members are Olivia Golden, Katelyn Hill, Savanne Howard, Elizabeth Russell, Kaylee Shelton, Tori Miller, Haley Jared, Taylor Lybarger and Sarah Ellen Battles. The head coach is Tanya Lybarger. Assistant coach is Kathy Cheatham. | Brent Maze
Hartselle coach Tanya Lybarger said her team’s motto this season has been to finish strong.
That’s what the Lady Tigers (42-18) did Thursday during the Morgan County Volleyball Tournament at Falkville High School. The team only lost one set the whole day, cruising through pool play and the semifinals of the bracket before edging Danville (34-26) in the finals 25-19, 20-25, 15-13 to win the county tournament.
After Hartselle and Danville took turns dominating sets, the Lady Hawks took a quick 6-2 lead. From there, Hartselle took control as Katelyn Hill added three kills to tie the set at 7-7.
The two teams traded points until Kaylee Shelton had an emphatic kill to take an 11-10 lead. Haley Jared put away another point, forcing a timeout. Shelton then added another kill to take a 13-10 lead.
However, Danville’s Sydni Shelton tied the set up again scoring two kills and a successful block in succession.
But the Lady Hawks couldn’t capitalize as Danville’s serve failed to clear the net. The Lady Tigers put it away with Shelton’s block into an open area of the floor for the win.
“We actually finished the second set well. We were just too far behind,” Lybarger said. “We fell behind again in the 15-game, but we just came back and finished strong. That’s what we’ve been doing all year. It’s a great to win the county again.”
Danville coach Spencer Cole said his team fought well, but they just gave Hartselle a few too many points.
“We kind of gave them a few points there with some missed serves,” Cole said. “Part of that is because you have to take a few more chances on your serve against a team like Hartselle. You just can’t hit the ball over the net because they’ll set it up and eat you alive. They just have so many weapons.”
In the championship match, Hill led the team with seven kills, two blocks, four digs and an ace. Olivia Golden had seven kills, 10 digs and an ace. Kaylee Shelton had five kills and two blocks while Savanne Howard had 21 assists and three blocks.
