BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Union County High School’s volleyball team rebounded from a rough start, played for a regional title and wrapped up a season in which it produced some of the state’s best play in the Rural Class.
The Tigers’ season came to an end with a 3-2 loss to Branford — the number-one team in the Rural Class — in the Region 3 championship match. Union dropped the first two sets before rallying and forcing a tie-breaker set, which they lost by only two points.
Jailyn Simmons and Morgan Smith had 15 and 10 kills, respectively, while Layla Barber and Indi Knox each had nine.
Knox and Smith each had two blocks, with Knox also adding 18 digs.
Bella Johns led the Tigers in digs with 32. Union also got 28 from Kamryn Southerland, 10 from Abby Williams and nine from Barber.
Williams and Southerland recorded 20 and 19 assists, respectively.
It was the third straight year the Tigers had advanced to at least a regional-title match, though they got off to a shaky start, opening the season with four losses in their first five matches. Union rebounded, though, and closed out the regular season with 13 wins in 17 matches.
The season also saw the Tigers defeat Lafayette — the state’s second-ranked team — in the District 6 semifinals and again in the Region 3 semifinals.
After the Region 3 championship match loss, the Tigers had players in the Rural Class top 10 in four statistical categories.
Simmons led the Rural Class with 96 blocks, while her 325 kills were the third most in the class. She also had the 11th most service aces with 57.
Johns had the second-most digs in the class with 418, while Southerland ranked ninth in the class with 356 assists.
Barber and Knox finished the season with 198 and 193 kills, respectively, which were 12th most and 14th most in the Rural Class. Smith had 177 kills.
Southerland and Barber had 43 and 42 aces, respectively, with the Tigers also getting 33 from Knox, 30 from Johns and 28 from Williams.
Smith finished with 43 blocks on the season.
Finishing behind Johns in digs were Knox with 304 and Southerland with 284. Those totals ranked Knox and Southerland 12th and 20th in the Rural Class.
The Tigers also had the following dig totals: 163 by Bayley Staier, 143 by Barber, 133 by Williams and 101 by Simmons.
Williams finished the season with 291 assists, which ranked her 17th in the Rural Class.
