BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Bradford High School’s volleyball team won its fourth match in a row, defeating visiting Keystone Heights 3-1 (25-14, 25-17, 24-26, 25-13) on Sept. 8.
The Tornadoes (4-3) went on a 4-0 run with Manduo Wei serving to take a 6-2 lead in the first set, while two Ar’Nayshia Griffin kills helped Bradford later take a 13-6 lead.
Kills by Bralee-Kate Chester and Mia Rivera helped the Indians (5-4) keep their deficit at single digits before Bradford scored five straight points to take a 24-13 lead. That Tornadoes run included a Griffin kill, a Tatum Burkhalter block and a Lakelyn Sheppard service ace.
Keystone’s Kaleigh Marquart dumped the ball over the net to force side-out, but an error gave the Tornadoes the 25-14 win.
The second set was a tight affair throughout. Bradford led 19-17 before closing it out with six straight points with Kingslee Phillips serving. Phillips had three aces during the run, which also included a Burkhalter kill off a Phillips assist.
Bradford maintained a small lead throughout most of the third set, but the Indians took a 22-19 lead behind two service points from Rivera. The Tornadoes then scored three straight with Phillips serving to go up 24-23, but a side-out evened the score and gave the serve to Keystone’s Marquart. Kadence Massey’s kill put the Indians up 25-24 before a Marquart ace gave the Indians the 26-24 win.
It was again another close contest in the fourth set until the Tornadoes began pulling away with the help of kills by Burkhalter and Griffin. A Ky’lee Johnson kill forced a side-out and gave Bradford a 16-12 lead. The Tornadoes then scored three points with Shelby Cole serving, with Cole recording two aces.
The Tornadoes it out with two service points from Autumn DeKorver, giving Bradford the 25-13 win in the fourth set and the match win.
It was also a good night for Bradford’s junior varsity team, which defeated Keystone 2-0 to improve to 4-2 on the season.
The varsity team’s win streak began with a 3-1 (25-22, 23-25, 25-20, 25-18) victory over visiting Palatka on Aug. 28 in which DeKorver recorded nine kills, eight blocks and three aces.
Johnson and Leila Roberts each had eight kills, with Roberts also adding five blocks.
Wynter Barrington and Griffin had three and two blocks, respectively, while Wei led the team in digs with 13.
Phillips tallied 22 assists, while Cole had three aces.
On Sept. 2, DeKorver and Johnson had five kills apiece in a 3-0 (25-17, 25-15, 25-13) win at Hawthorne. DeKorver also had two blocks.
Phillips and Cole recorded 11 and nine assists, respectively, with Phillips also adding five aces.
Sheppard and Burkhalter had six and five aces, respectively, with Burkhalter also recording five kills.
Bradford defeated visiting Newberry 3-1 (18-25, 25-18, 25-22, 25-19) on Sept. 3, getting 10 kills from Roberts and nine kills and seven digs from Burkhalter.
Griffin and Barrington added eight and six kills, respectively, while Phillips recorded 17 assists.
Cole and Sheppard each had seven digs, with Cole also adding 10 assists.
Johnson recorded two blocks, while Wei had three aces.
Keystone had won two in a row before the Sept. 8 loss to Bradford.
The Indians defeated host Baker County 3-0 (27-25, 25-23, 25-20) on Sept. 2, with Rivera recording 21 kills and six digs.
Massey had 12 digs, eight kills and three aces, while Marquart had 36 assists and three aces.
Mackenzie Castlevecchi recorded six kills, while Bella Cumbo had 14 digs.
On Sept. 4, the Indians defeated visiting Palatka 3-2 (25-21, 20-25, 17-25, 25-20, 15-9), getting 22 kills, seven digs, four aces and two blocks from Rivera.
Massey, who had nine kills, led Keystone in digs with 13, while the Indians got eight digs from Cumbo and seven digs from Rachel Blank.
Blank also had four aces.
Chester and Marquart each had three aces, with Chester adding six blocks and Marquart recording 36 assists.
Castlevecchi had two blocks.
Bradford returns to action with a home match against Union County on Thursday, Sept. 11. The JV teams play at 5:30 p.m., followed by the varsity teams at approximately 6:30 p.m. The Tornadoes then travel to play Interlachen at 5:30 p.m./6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 16.
Keystone plays at Interlachen on Tuesday, Sept. 9, at 7 p.m., following a JV match at 6 p.m. The Indians will play in a tournament hosted by Jacksonville Juniors Volleyball Association on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 12-13, and then host St. Johns Country Day on Tuesday, Sept. 16, at 6 p.m./7 p.m.
