BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Telegraph Staff Writer
Union County High School’s volleyball team was attempting to beat Branford for the first time this season, but the host Buccaneers got the best of the Tigers again, winning the Region 3-1A championship 3-1 (25-11, 25-7, 21-25, 25-22) on Oct. 31.
Branford, the region’s top seed, went 4-0 against second seed Union this year. The Buccaneers (24-4) advance to the Monday, Nov. 6, state semifinals to play Newberry (15-14).
The Tigers (12-13) got 15 kills and eight blocks from Jailyn Simmons and 12 kills and 15 digs from Layla Barber. Indi Knox and Rylie Parrish had nine and six kills, respectively, with Knox also recording 10 digs and Parrish adding five blocks.
Jurney Crim led the team in digs with 28. Jordan Hendricks and Bella Johns added 18 and 10, respectively, while Kamryn Southerland had nine.
Southerland and Hendricks had 17 and 13 assists, respectively.
This was the fourth straight year Union qualified for the regional playoffs and the 10th time in the last 13 years. It was also the second straight year the Tigers advanced to at least the regional finals and the sixth region-finals appearance in 13 years.
Crim, after the Oct. 31 matches, is ranked fourth in all of Class 1A in digs this season with 421, while Simmons is fifth in blocks with 108. Simmons is also 12th in kills with 245.
The Tigers have other players ranked in the top 20 in various statistical categories: Parrish 13th in blocks (57), Hendricks 14th in assists (285), Southerland 17th in assists (250) and Barber 19th in kills (188).
Union loses three players to graduation: Crim, Hendricks and Parrish.
