BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Union County High School won the first two sets and left Mayo with a 3-1 (25-19, 25-20, 26-28, 25- 26-24) victory over the second-seed Lafayette Hornets in a Region 3-Rural semifinal volleyball match on Oct. 26.
Morgan Smith recorded two straight kills to end a tight fourth set and advance the third seed Tigers (17-9) to the Region 3 championship match, where they’ll play at number-one seed Branford (25-3) on Tuesday, Oct. 29, at 7 p.m.
“Something Mayo is really good at is defense, so we worked very hard this week at exploiting their defense and really trying to pick apart their defenders,” Union Head Coach Tifani Knox.
The Tigers were swept by Lafayette (16-5) during the regular season by scores of 3-0 and 3-1, but now have two postseason victories over the Hornets, with the first coming by a 3-1 score in the District 6 tournament semifinals.
Knox said the key to her team exploiting the Hornets’ defense was spreading the ball around to all of its hitters. She also gave her hitters kudos for playing smart, saying, “Instead of whaling the ball out of bounds, we were putting it where (the Lafayette blockers) weren’t.”
Three points scored by Jailyn Simmons helped Union take a 4-3 lead in the first set, but Lafayette scored seven of the next eight points. A 4-0 run by the Hornets during that span included points off tips by Libby Beach and Havyn Richardson.
A Simmons block, an Indi Knox kill and a Kamryn Southerland service ace helped the Tigers tie the score at 12-12. Neither team went up by more than a point after that until Union scored two points with Layla Barber serving to go up 18-15.
Union led 19-16 before scoring three straight with Southerland serving. Southerland had an ace, while Knox and Smith each had a kill off an Abby Williams assist.
The Tigers’ remaining three points were scored off Lafayette errors.
Union scored 11 of the first 15 points of the second set. The set began with the Tigers scoring three straight with Bella Johns serving, getting two kills from Simmons and one from Knox. Another 3-0 run with Knox serving included an ace and two kills by Simmons for a 7-1 lead.
The Hornets were able to whittle away at their 11-4 deficit and make it a three-point match.
Union scored three points with Knox serving to go up 18-12. Knox had an ace, while the Tigers also got points off a Barber kill and a Simmons tip.
Five of the Tigers’ next seven points came off Lafayette errors.
A Smith kill made the score 24-18 before the Hornets forced side-out. Lafayette’s Kiley Beach had a kill to pull the Hornets within four, but the Tigers ended the set with Simmons’ tip off a Southerland assist.
The third set was tied at 11-11 when the Hornets scored three straight points with Libby Beach serving. Lafayette got a kill from Richardson and a tip for a point by Rylee Skillman.
Lafayette later got a kill from Brooke Lamb and a tip and a block from Kiley Beach to help the Hornets take an 18-14 lead. A Sophia Kendrick kill made it 19-14, while a Richardson kill made it 21-16.
Union scored five points with Southerland serving to take a 22-21 lead. Most of those points came off errors, though the Tigers got one point off a tip by Smith. Another point eventually came off a play that was extended by Johns, who made a nice dig on a spike by Lafayette’s Kendrick.
The game went back and forth, with Union getting points from Knox and Simmons and Lafayette getting four kills from Kiley Beach.
A Union service error gave the Hornets a 27-26 lead. Lamb then recorded a kill as Lafayette avoided getting swept.
The Tigers took a 10-5 lead in the fourth set off a 4-0 run with Simmons serving. Union got two aces and kills by Barber and Smith off Williams assists.
A Barber tip, a Smith block and a Knox kill helped the Tigers take a 15-8 lead.
Union got kills from Knox and Simmons in extending its lead to 19-11.
It was 20-15 when Lafayette scored six straight points with Ella McAdams serving.
The Hornets were later one point from winning the set when Barber recorded a kill to force side-out, leaving Union trailing 24-23.
Union closed out the match with Barber serving. One point came off the Hornets having too many touches after Barber nearly recorded an ace. The final two points came off free balls, with Johns passing the ball to Williams on each. Williams then set up Smith for successful attacks on each.
Stats weren’t available at the time of this posting.
The Region 3 championship match will be a rematch of the District 6 championship match, which Branford won 3-0 (25-23, 25-23, 25-16).
Union has not won a set in three matches against Branford this season.
Branford advanced to the Region 3 title match off a 3-1 (16-25, 25-14, 25-17, 25-19) win over Aucilla Christian.
The Buccaneers were last year’s state runner-up.
