BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Union County High School defeated the number-two team in the Florida High School Athletic Association/MaxPreps Rural Class power rankings to reach the District 6 championship match, but the Tigers couldn’t take down the number-one team, losing 3-0 (25-22, 25-23, 25-16) to Branford on Oct. 17 in Cross City.
Even with the loss, the district runner-up Tigers (16-9) will advance to the regional playoffs. Union, the seventh-ranked team in the Rural Class, is the third seed in Region 3 and will travel to Mayo to play second seed Lafayette in a semifinal match on Saturday, Oct. 26, at 7 p.m. Lafayette (16-4) is the state’s second-ranked team.
If the Tigers defeat Lafayette, they’ll play for the Region 3 championship on Tuesday, Oct. 29, at 7 p.m. They’ll either travel to play top seed Branford (24-3) or host fourth seed Aucilla Christian (15-5).
In the District 6 tournament championship match, Branford extended an 11-6 lead with four straight points with Erika Rioux serving.
Union, the tournament’s third seed, later trailed 16-9 before a 5-0 run with Kamryn Southerland serving. Southerland scored the first two points off aces and then assisted on a kill by Indi Knox. Southerland recorded another ace, while a Branford error made the score 16-14. Southerland made a nice dig on a kill attempt by the Buccaneers’ Kayley Johnson. That led to Bella Johns sending the ball back over the net, but Johnson made good on another attack opportunity to force side-out with Branford leading 17-14.
Branford was serving with a 23-19 lead when Southerland recorded a kill off an Abby Williams assist to force side-out and make it a three-point match. That gave the serve to the Tigers’ Jailyn Simmons. Union scored one point when Morgan Smith first blocked a dump attempt by Andi Sabourin and then was successful on an attack opportunity.
The Buccaneers were able to force side-out on a Lalyn Sikes kills, but Union’s Smith followed with a kill of her own, giving the serve to the Tigers’ Lalya Barber in a two-point match. Branford’s Madison Ward blocked a Knox attack for the Buccaneers’ set-winning point.
Union scored 10 of the first 15 points of the second set, getting three kills from Barber, a kill and an ace from Simmons and a kill from Smith. Branford, though, then went on an 8-0 run with Rioux serving. The Buccaneers took a 13-10 lead before Knox forced side-out with a kill.
The Tigers kept it close, getting kills from Barber and Simmons as well as a block from Smith. They made it a one-point score when Branford committed an attack error, but a service error by Union resulted in side-out and the Buccaneers leading 21-19.
Union was able to keep play alive on two attack attempts by Branford’s Sikes, but Sikes would eventually get a third opportunity during the volley and record a successful kill to make the score 22-19. Sikes later attempted to make it a four-point game, but her attack was blocked by Smith, resulting in side-out.
With the score 22-20, Johns made a pass off a free ball, with Smith getting a kill off a Southerland assist to pull the Tigers within one. A Sikes kill forced side-out.
Ward recorded a kill for the Buccaneers to make it 24-21, but a Southerland kill gave the Tigers a point and the serve trailing 24-22. A Southerland assist led to a Simmons kill for one point, but the set ended in a win for Branford off a Johnson kill.
The third set went back and forth early, with Barber and Smith getting three and two kills, respectively, as the score was tied at 7-7.
Branford scored four points with Sabourin serving to go up 11-7. All but one of the four points came off Union errors.
The Buccaneers put together another 4-0 run to go up 16-9. Branford got an ace from Ryland Roush and kills from Dicks and Johnson during that span.
Branford continued to pull away as the Tigers could never score more than one point while serving.
It was 22-16 when the Buccaneers scored three straight with Sikes serving. Johnson had a kill for the match-winning point.
Johnson finished with nine kills, but Union’s Simmons and Smith were the match leaders with 11 and 10, respectively. The Tigers also got eight kills from Barber.
Barber, Simmons and Smith each had two blocks.
Southerland recorded team highs with three aces and 14 digs, while Williams led in assists with 17. Southerland added 13 assists.
Williams had 12 digs, while Johns and Knox each had nine.
The Tigers began district-tournament play with a 3-0 (25-8, 25-9, 25-17) quarterfinal win over sixth seed Fort White on Oct. 14. Simmons and Barber had 12 and five kills, respectively, with Simmons adding five digs and two blocks.
Southerland led the team in assists with 11, while also recording six digs. Williams had eight assists and seven aces.
Knox and Johns had eight and six digs, respectively, with Johns adding seven aces and five assists.
The win advanced Union to the Oct. 15 semifinals to play a Lafayette team it had lost to twice in the regular season. This time, the Tigers came out on top with a 3-1 (22-25, 25-20, 29-27, 25-12) win.
Simmons had 19 kills and two blocks, while Knox had 10 kills and 19 digs. Smith and Barber added nine and seven kills, respectively, with Barber adding 13 digs.
Southerland and Johns led the team in digs with 24 and 21, respectively. Williams added eight, while Bayley Staier had six.
The Tigers got 25 assists from Southerland, 14 assists from Williams and two blocks from Shaley Maloney.
