BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Union County High School’s volleyball team remained hot, winning its fourth straight match, while a young Bradford team continued to struggle in the Tigers’ 3-0 (25-14, 25-10, 25-16) victory on Oct. 7 in Lake Butler.
The Tigers (14-7), who are eighth in the Florida High School Athletic Association/MaxPreps Rural Class power poll, scored the first five points of the first set with Bella Johns serving, getting two kills from Jailyn Simmons. A couple of Indi Knox service aces later helped Union take a 9-2 lead.
Knox, Simmons, Layla Barber and Morgan Smith all had kills as the Tigers continued to pull away. A Simmons block of an Autumn DeKorver attack made the score 17-8.
Barber had three kills late in the set, including one for the game-winning point.
Class 3A Bradford (2-13) got some good plays early in the second set from DeKorver, who blocked an attack by Barber and recorded a kill. It was a one-point game before the Tigers reeled off five straight points with Simmons serving. Abby Williams assisted on kills by Barber and Smith during that span as Union went up 9-3.
The Tigers scored four straight with Barber serving, getting a kill from De’ashia Gainer in building a 14-4 lead. A three-point span with Knox serving that included kills by Knox and Barber later made it 21-7.
Williams served up an ace to win the second set.
Union led by six in third set, but the Tornadoes scored three points with Manduo Wei serving to make the score 11-8.
Two kills by Knox and a tip by Simmons helped Union take a 15-9 lead. The Tigers’ Kamryn Southerland later made a play off a bad pass from a teammate, tipping the ball over the net for a point and a 16-12 lead. Southerland recorded an assist on the following play, leading to a kill by Simmons and a 17-12 lead before DeKorver forced side-out with a kill off a Kingslee Phillips assist.
A couple of aces by DeKorver helped the Tornadoes pull to within 20-16, but Simmons had a couple of aces of her own as the Tigers closed out the match with five straight points.
Union entered the match off a 3-0 (25-12, 25-16, 25-20) win over Class 2A P.K. Yonge on Oct. 1 in Lake Butler.
The Tornadoes, who’ve been swept in every loss but one, were coming off a week in which they dropped 3-0 matches to Class 4A Baker County on Sept. 30 and fellow Class 3A teams Interlachen on Oct. 2 and Baldwin on Oct. 3.
