BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Telegraph Staff Writer
A championship trophy was within their grasp, but the Tigers were having a difficult time putting Branford away in the fourth set.
Emily Wilson decided it was time to end the match. She recorded a kill to force a side-out and followed that up with a kill that gave the Union County High School volleyball team a 3-1 win over number-one seed Branford in the District 6-1A title match on Oct. 20 at Bell High School.
“It was very exhausting going back and forth, back and forth,” said Wilson, who finished with 12 kills. “I knew someone had to step up and put it away. I felt like I could do that for my team, so I pushed through all the exhaustion and tiredness and put it away for us.”
The second seed Tigers (18-7) dropped the first set 25-20 before winning three straight by scores of 25-15, 25-19 and 25- 20.
“We started off a little rocky,” Head Coach Tifani Knox said, “but I’m super proud of them. They came back with a vengeance. They pulled it together and played smart. We were able to pull it out.”
It was the Tigers’ second straight district championship.
“It’s really exciting,” said Jaycee Davis, who had 16 kills, 16 digs and three blocks. “Two years in a row. It kind of feels surreal.”
It brought about a mixture of emotions in Davis and Wilson — the team’s only seniors. Davis talked about it being their “last hurrah,” while Wilson said, “It feels like another chapter of our life ended.”
Yet the seniors get to start a playoff chapter, with the Tigers set to host a Region 3 semifinal match on Friday, Oct. 28. It just so happens Union will play Branford (19-6) again.
Union got to the District 6 championship match by defeating third seed Bell 3-0 (25-15, 25-20, 25-20) in an Oct. 18 semifinal match. Davis and Jailyn Simmons had 16 and 11 kills, respectively. Davis also had 15 digs, while Bella Johns and Jurney Crim had 13 and 12 digs, respectively.
Kamryn Southerland led the team in assists with 20, while Jordan Hendricks had 14.
Southerland and Davis had four and three service aces, respectively, while Crim had two.
The championship match against Branford got off to a good start as the Tigers scored the first three points of the first set. They later trailed 12-10 before scoring four straight points with Southerland serving.
Branford scored three points with Kennedy Walker serving to break a 15-15 tie and take the lead for good, eventually winning the set on a passing error.
Davis said she and Wilson reminded their teammates that this would be the last-ever district championship match the seniors would play in.
“The team decided to start playing amazing,” Davis said. “That really helps me and Emily a lot. We know that they’ll fight for us at any moment.”
Wilson said, “I feel like we definitely came together as a team. We were very energetic (after the first set) and not only playing the game, but having fun.”
Three kills by Davis and a kill by Wilson helped Union take an 8-5 lead in the second set. The Tigers scored three points with Simmons serving to go up 12-6, with Rylie Parrish recording a kill during that span. Union later scored five points with Southerland serving, getting a tip by Wilson and an ace that would put the Tigers up 18-8.
It was 24-15 with Branford serving. Crim made a diving save to keep play alive, with the Buccaneers eventually committing an attack error to give the Tigers the 10-point win.
Knox saw a much better performance in the second set.
“I think the difference was the serve-receive,” she said. “The serve-receive was a lot better. We had good passes and were able to set up our hitters, and they were able to make better decisions with the ball.”
Davis said the team also played better at the net, which resulted in fewer hard swings by Branford’s hitters.
“That made Branford start tipping,” Davis said. “We are used to tipping teams. We had already played Bell and Keystone and teams that like to tip a lot. That was in our comfort zone, so it made it easier for us.”
The Buccaneers built a 6-3 lead in the third set and led 15-13 before Union scored four points with Simmons serving. One of those points was an ace.
Parrish recorded a kill as the Tigers scored two points with Johns serving, resulting in a 22-18 lead. A Davis block forced a side-out, giving the serve to Crim with a 23-19 lead. Layla Barber recorded a kill to make it 24-19 before Union won the set on Branford’s attack error.
Early in the fourth set, the Tigers scored seven straight points with Hendricks serving. She had two aces as Union took a 9-4 lead.
The Tigers later scored three points with Southerland serving to go up 15-10. A Davis kills and a Barber tip helped Union build its lead to 19-15.
A Davis ace made it 22-16 before the Buccaneers forced a side-out. Branford scored two straight points, with one coming on a block of a Wilson attack. Wilson would succeed on another attack attempt to force side-out.
Branford’s Walker was able to record a kill of her own to give her team the serve trailing 23-20. Wilson again recorded a kill for side-out before closing the match out with the winning attack.
“We really needed someone to step up, and (Wilson) did,” Knox said. “That was great. For her to have the last kill of the game was awesome.”
It made for a happy moment for Wilson’s fellow senior teammate.
“Emily’s one of my best friends off the court. I’m so proud of her,” Davis said, adding, “There’s nothing more I would’ve wanted for her than that. She deserves it.”
Hendricks and Southerland each recorded 15 assists and three aces. Southerland also had 10 digs.
Crim and Johns had 15 and 11 digs, respectively, while Indi Knox added nine digs. Johns also had three aces.
Simmons led the team in blocks with four, while also recording two aces.
Parrish had five kills.
