BY CLIFF SMELLEY
A couple of hot volleyball teams met in Starke on Sept. 11, with host Bradford High School having won four in a row and Union County having won six in a row.
Only one could leave with its streak intact, and that was Union, which bounced back after dropping the first set to defeat Bradford 3-1 (25-27, 25-20, 25-19, 25-18).
The Tigers led 9-8 in the first set before the Tornadoes scored three straight points with Lakelyn Sheppard serving. The brief run included an ace and a block by Ar’Nayshia Griffin.
Bradford would maintain its lead until Union scored four points with Indi Knox serving. An ace and a Morgan Smith kill helped the Tigers take an 18-16 lead.
It was 22-18 in favor of Union when the Tornadoes scored three points with Shelby Cole serving to make it a one-point game. Bradford’s Autumn DeKorver later had an ace to tie it up at 23-23.
Bradford would retake the lead, getting an ace from Sheppard and a kill from Ky’lee Johnson. The Tornadoes closed it out with a Griffin kill off a Kingslee Phillips assist to win 27-25.
Neither team held more than a three-point lead for most of the second set. It was 20-19 in favor of the Tigers when they scored three points with Mallory Waugh serving. Two points came off Knox kills, while the other point was scored on a Jailyn Simmons kill.
A Bradford attack error with Knox serving gave the Tigers a 25-20 win.
The Tigers held a 12-9 lead in the third set before going on a 6-0 run with Bailey Staier serving. Four of those points were scored by Simmons off three kills and a block.
Johnson had three kills to help the Tornadoes whittle their deficit to five, but Bradford couldn’t overtake the Tigers. A Bella Johns ace put Union up 23-17 before a Griffin kill forced side-out. The Tornadoes’ Tatum Burkhalter had a kill off a Phillips assist to make it 23-19, but a side-out gave the serve to Union’s Waugh, who recorded an ace for the winning point.
Bradford scored the first four points of the fourth set with Phillips serving. Phillips had assists on two of those points — kills by Burkhalter and Griffin. Griffin also scored points on a tip and a block.
The Tigers trailed 6-3 before scoring four points with Abby Williams serving. Williams recorded two aces during the span, which also included a Simmons kill off a Williams assist.
It was 14-13 in favor of Union when a Waugh ace and a Simmons kill off a Waugh assist put the Tigers up by four.
A 5-0 run with Williams serving that included a Smith block and a Williams tip gave Union 24-16 lead.
The Tornadoes forced side-out and scored one point with Manduo Wei serving before an error gave the Tigers the 25-18 win to end the match.
Union entered the match off a 3-1 (26-24, 21-25, 25-21, 27-25) win over host Dixie County on Sept. 9, with Simmons and Waugh tallying 14 and 11 kills, respectively. Waugh also had 11 digs, while Simmons had eight.
Johns led the team in digs with 15, while Knox and Williams each had 10. Staier added eight digs.
Knox and Smith had nine and kills, respectively, while Williams had 27 assists. Waugh added eight assists.
The Sept. 11 issue of the Telegraph-Times-Monitor reported the scores of Union’s Sept. 2 win over Newberry and Sept. 4 win over Oak Hall, but did not have stats by deadline.
Against host Newberry — a 3-0 (25-13, 25-23, 25-23) win — Simmons had 13 kills, while Smith and Waugh had seven and six, respectively. Simmons also had five blocks, while Waugh added 10 assists and 10 digs.
Williams, who had nine digs, led the team in assists with 16, while Johns and Knox had 15 and 14 digs, respectively. Knox added seven aces.
Lydia Waugh had two blocks.
In the 3-0 (25-17, 25-17, 25-21) win over visiting Oak Hall, Simmons had 10 kills, eight digs, five aces and three blocks.
Knox and Mallory Waugh each had seven kills, with Knox adding eight digs and two blocks and Waugh adding seven assists and two blocks.
Williams had 15 assists, while Johns had 16 digs.
Staier added seven digs, while Lydia Waugh had two blocks.
Union competed in the Wawa JJVA River City High School Classic after playing Bradford, placing third in its division (see related post for results and upcoming schedule).
The Tornadoes play at Interlachen on Tuesday, Sept. 16, at 6:30 p.m. and will host Hawthorne on Thursday, Sept. 18, at 7 p.m.
BHS beats UCHS in junior varsity match
Bradford’s junior varsity team scored nine of the first 10 points of the third set in defeating Union 2-1 (25-20, 24-26, 15-12) on Sept. 11 prior to the varsity match between the two schools.
The Tornadoes led 22-20 in the first set before scoring three straight points with Maddison Lee serving. Kelsey Padgett had a kill during that span, while Jordyne Goddard’s tip resulted in the winning point.
Goddard and Ella Hewett had kills during a 4-0 run with Lee serving that put Bradford up 15-9 in the second set, but Union narrowed its deficit, with a tip by Audrey Miller, a kill by Latoya Hampton and an ace from Raegan Williams pulling the Tigers to within 19-17.
Two consecutive aces by Bradford’s Izzy Pritchett put the Tornadoes up 22-17, while a kill by Lee later made it 24-19.
After a side-out, Union scored the set’s final six points with Bethany Phillips serving to rally and take the 26-24 win. One of the points came off an ace, while another came on a Williams kill.
The Tornadoes scored the first five points of the third set with Shely Williams serving, getting a kill from Elaina Smith and two aces from Williams.
Smith later scored a point off a block during a 3-0 run with Jade Brown serving as Bradford took a 9-1 lead.
Brown and Hughes later added kills to help the Tornadoes close out the set and match win.
