BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Telegraph Staff Writer
Union County High School’s best season since finishing as state runner-up in 2017 came to an end in the Class 1A semifinals on Nov. 11 as the Tigers traveled to Okaloosa County and lost 3-0 (25-17, 25-19, 25-19) to the Baker Gators.
The second seed Gators (22-6) will play number-one seed Liberty County (27-2) for the state championship on Friday, Nov. 11. Liberty advanced by beating fourth seed Williston (19-11) 3-1 (20-25, 25-15, 25-12, 25-14).
Union, the third seed in the Final Four, got 12 kills and 16 digs from Jaycee Davis. Jurney Crim had 13 digs, while Jordan Hendricks, Bella Johns and Kamryn Southerland each had eight.
Hendricks and Southerland each had nine assists, while Rylie Parrish had two blocks.
The Tigers (20-8) advanced to the state semifinals by defeating host Aucilla Christian 3-0 (25-18, 25-17, 25-22) for the Region 3 championship on Nov. 1. Davis had 16 kills and 16 digs. Crim and Johns had 14 and 10 digs, respectively, while Jailyn Simmons had nine.
Hendricks and Southerland recorded 15 and 13 assists, respectively. Each also had six digs.
This was the first year the Tigers won at least one playoff match since 2017. Union also set the school record for most wins in a season, surpassing the 2011 and 2015 teams, which each finished with 19 wins.
This year’s team also won the sixth district championship in program history (UCHS began playing volleyball in 1995) and qualified for the playoffs for the third straight year and for the seventh time in the last eight years.
