October 15, 2021
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
JACKSONVILLE – Not that the job is anywhere near complete, but this is the spot the Ohatchee volleyball team has worked all year to reach.
The Lady Indians earned the trip to the Class 3A North super regionals they were denied on the eve of last year’s area tournament with a 3-0 victory over Piedmont Thursday in the 2-3 seed game at Pleasant Valley. The set scores were 25-14, 25-17, 25-22.
Not content with just getting in, they ended Pleasant Valley’s long reign of area titles by winning the Class 3A Area 11 crown with a 3-0 sweep of the Lady Raiders (25-21, 25-15, 25-18). PV had won 15 straight area tournament titles.
Ohatchee junior Jorda Crook was named MVP. She had 17 kills in each of Thursday’s matches.
PV and Ohatchee split in their regular season matches 3-1 each time, but PV earned the No. 1 seed by three points over the two matches.
“We earned every bit of it,’ Ohatchee coach Rebecca Hughes said. “We came out with a vengeance.
“We came in and yes we set a goal of getting here, but at this point we have to finish and get the job completely done because we’re not settling for second.
“We talked a lot yesterday and today that we had it taken away from us last year so we had something to come into and prove and just show them we deserve to be here and we deserve to be definitely going to regionals and hopefully more than that..”
The Lady Indians will play Elkmont in their Huntsville super regional opener Oct. 20 at 12:45 p.m. Pleasant Valley will play Lauderdale County at 11:30 a.m.
A senior-laden Ohatchee team had a real shot at making the regionals last year, but were denied on the eve of the area tournament when the varsity was sent into COVID-19 quarantine. Senior Gracie George, who served out the last eight points of the second set against Piedmont, called it “one of the saddest things I’ve ever had to go through.”
The junior varsity played in the area tournament in hopes of keeping the Lady Indians eligible for postseason play. They played valiantly, but lost to Piedmont in three sets and the minute that match ended, Hughes said, they were looking towards this year.
“We brought it up like every day,” Crook said. “It’s not something we could get over, so we knew we had to come out and play. We wanted it that bad. We wanted it a lot last year, but we wanted it more this year than we did last year.”
Two players in Thursday’s lineup played in that match last year – Hanna Fitch and Rebecca Henderson – and they fit perfectly, combining for 15 kills, five aces and 21 digs in the two matches. Henderson had six kills and seven digs in the title match.
“This is phenomenal,” senior Rachel Dunaway said. “Personally, me getting COVID — I’m the reason (they were quarantined) — I should’ve been the maddest, I should’ve been the one wanting it the most. No doubt, I did. I want this one the most. It’s our time.”
CLASS 3A AREA 11
Championship match
OHATCHEE 3, PLEASANT VALLEY 0
(25-21, 25-15, 25-18)
KILLS – Ohatchee: Jorda Crook 17, Gracie George 1, Rachel Dunaway 5, Hannah Fitch 1, Ellie Carden 1, Rebecca Henderson 6. Pleasant Valley: Lily Henry 7, Rylee Haynes 9, Allie Bryant 7, Maddie Schwabe 3, Rebekah Gannaway 3.
ASSISTS – Ohatchee: Gracie George 1, Rachel Dunaway 1, Millie Rainwater 18, Hannah Fitch 10. Pleasant Valley: Rylee Haynes 12, Allie Bryant 12, Maddie Schwabe 1, Rebekah Gannaway 1.
ACES – Ohatchee: Jorda Crook 1, Rachel Dunaway 1, Rebecca Henderson 3. Pleasant Valley: Maddie Schwabe 1.
DIGS – Ohatchee: Jorda Crook 3, Gracie George 1, Rachel Dunaway 13, Hanna Fitch 7,, Ellie Carden 13, Millie Rainwater 5, Alanah Fitch 3, Rebecca Henderson 7. Pleasant Valley: Lily Henry 10, Rylee Haynes 10, Allie Bryant 7, Maddie Schwabe 12, Rebekah Gannaway 7, Haylie Lee 4, Madi Hay 3,
BLOCKS – Ohatchee: Gracie George 1. Pleasant Valley: Maddie Schwabe 1, Tori Turner 2, Rebekah Gannaway 2.
OHATCHEE TWO-MATCH TOTALS
KILLS – Jorda Crook 34, Gracie George 5, Rachel Dunaway 12, Hannah Fitch 1, Ellie Carden 1, Rebecca Henderson 14.
ASSISTS – Jorda Crook 1, Gracie George 2, Rachel Dunaway 1, Millie Rainwater 38, Hannah Fitch 10, Alanah Fitch 12
ACES – Jorda Crook 7, Rachel Dunaway 4, Rebecca Henderson 3, Millie Rainwater 1, Hannah Fitch 1, Gracie George 3, Rebecca Henderson 1.
DIGS – Jorda Crook 7, Gracie George 1, Rachel Dunaway 18, Hanna Fitch 9, Ellie Carden 21, Millie Rainwater 7, Alanah Fitch 4, Rebecca Henderson 12.
BLOCKS – Gracie George 2.
PLEASANT VALLEY TWO-MATCH TOTALS
KILLS – Lily Henry 13, Rylee Haynes 19, Allie Bryant 18, Maddie Schwabe 9, Rebekah Gannaway 4, Tori Turner 3.
ASSISTS – Lily Henry, Rylee Haynes 29, Allie Bryant 24, Maddie Schwabe 1, Rebekah Gannaway 1.
ACES – Lily Henry 2, Rylee Haynes 2, Allie Bryant 4, Maddie Schwabe 4, Haylie Lee 3, Tori Turner 3.
DIGS – Lily Henry 24, Rylee Haynes 21, Allie Bryant 10, Maddie Schwabe 18, Rebekah Gannaway 7, Haylie Lee 15, Tori Turner 13, Madi Hay 3,
BLOCKS – Lily Henry 1, Maddie Schwabe 2, Rebekah Gannaway 2, Tori Turner 6.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
MVP: Jorda Crook, Ohatchee
OHATCHEE: Rachel Dunaway, Gracie George, Millie Rainwater, Ellie Carden.
PLEASANT VALLEY: Allie Bryant, Rylee Haynes, Lily Henry, Rebekah Gannaway, Maddie Schwabe.
PIEDMONT: TaLeaha Ridley, Z’Hayla Walker, Jaycee Glover.
WEAVER: Madison Atchley, Tiana Lawrence, Americus Conner, Nevaeh Hawkins.
Class 5A Area 11
Lexi Weber was named tournament MVP after recording 29 kills, five aces and eight blocks as Alexandria swept Moody (25-17, 25-11, 25-11) and St. Clair County (25-16, 25-16, 25-9) to win the area championship.
Weber, the county tournament MVP, had 17 kills, four blocks and five aces in the victory over Moody that sent the Lady Cubs to the regionals. She was joined on the all-tournament team by senior Kandyn Blankenship, Crossley Sparks and Blakeley Mobbs.
ALEXANDRIA TWO-MATCH TOTALS
KILLS – Kailey Dickerson 10, Kandyn Blankenship 6, Blakeley Mobbs 5, Lexi Weber 29, Brie Troup 6, Ashley Wells 1, Madison Foster 5, Lauren Weber 1, Erin Spradley 6.
ASSISTS – Crossley Sparks 40, Devan White 1, Christian Hess 6.
ACES – Kailey Dickerson 3, Kandyn Blankenship 2, Blakeley Mobbs 4, Lexi Weber 6, Crossley Sparks 3, Devan White 5, Christian Hess 3, Abby Prichard 1, Lauren Weber 2.
DIGS – Kailey Dickerson 2, Kandyn Blankenship 4, Blakeley Mobbs 1, Lexi Weber 2, Crossley Sparks 4, Devan White 7, Ava Johnson 9, Christian Hess 1, Abby Prichard 7, Chloe Gattis 1, Erin Spradley 1.
BLOCKS – Lexi Weber 7, Crossley Sparks 1, Madison Foster 2.
Class 1A Area 10
Sam Wakefield was named tournament MVP as she led Donoho to victories over Faith Christian (25-8, 25-12, 25-13) and Ragland (25-11, 25-19, 25-21). Teammate Naira Rehman was the defensive MVP and Ragland’s Cadence Buchanan won the offensive award.
The remainder of the All-Tournament team:
DONOHO: Lily Grace Draper, Maggie Wakefield, Mary Marshall Perry.
RAGLAND: Sammie Day Jones, Campbell Grace Adams, Addie Campbell.
FAITH: Megan Ford.
JCA: Jacie Brackett.
“This is a special group of girls that if they can refocus they can do something special this year,” Donoho coach Jamie Clendenin said.
