Birmingham, AL – Spradley has big day at the net as Alexandria sweeps way to Class 4A final, gives her a chance to match older sister’s state championship
By Joe Medley
Eryn Spradley was 9 when older sister Taylor’s thunderous spikes dotted Alexandria’s run to a state volleyball championship in 2017, but one memory stands out.
Their dad caught it on video.
“He watches it every day,” Eryn Spradley said. “There’s a little clip of me going, ‘Wooo!’ Then a ref walks by and goes, ‘You’re next.’”
Indeed, Eryn Spradley will be the next in her family to try. This after Alexandria swept two state-tournament matches Tuesday, beating Straughn 25-21, 25-12, 25-13 in the quarterfinals and Orange Beach 26-24, 26-24, 25-20 in the semifinals.
The Valley Cubs (43-13) will play Prattville Christian (44-14) in the Class 4A final on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. in Bill Harris Arena.
Alexandria seeks its second state title on Whitney Welch’s watch as head coach and first since 2017, with the Valley Cubs beat Lawrence County to win a Class 5A title.
The current Alexandria’s teams connections to the 2017 team run deeper than Welch and the Spradley sisters. Alexandria’s coaching staff includes 2017 libero Kinsley Gregoria and 2017 middle hitter Kendal Bumpus, and long-time assistant Kelli Johnson was on that 2017 staff.
Alexandria has been to the semifinals twice since 2017, and last year’s exit left an emotional hole to fill. The Valley Cubs led the fifth set 10-5, but Arab rallied to push it past 15. Alexandria had four consecutive match-point scenarios before Arab scored the final three.
Welch brought that up to her team before Tuesday’s semifinal against Orange Beach.
“We talked about that right before the game,” Welch said. “I hated to say that. I didn’t want to make them nervous.
“We’ve never seen this bunch, but I’m like, this is revenge on the game for last year.”
Spradley put it more bluntly after the Valley Cubs dog piled on the playing floor Tuesday.
“It was tears of joy,” Spradley said. “That’s all it really was.
“The thing about last year, we knew when we came back, we had redemption on our minds, no matter who we were playing on the opposite side. We came out for blood, and that’s what we got.”
The first two sets against Orange Beach went to extra points, but Alexandria prevailed 26-24 in both. The Valley Cubs finished off the third set in regulation.
Spradley had 23 kills against Orange Beach and 38 on the day. Sophie Martin dished out 39 assists against Orange Beach and 69 on the day, and libero Charlee Parris got 18 of her 24 digs on the day against Orange Beach.
“They were a good team,” Welch said. “They did some things we hadn’t really seen. They’d swing the ball at the net a lot, so our blocking was weird sometimes.
“We did enough. We dug ourselves some holes, but we fought back enough to get it done 3-0.”
Alexandria’s top performers:
—McKinley Cooper: 15 kills.
—Eryn Spradley: 38 kills, one assist, one dig, two aces, one block.
—Kylie Jeffers: one kill.
—Cassidy Hartsfield: 14 kills, five digs, two aces, one block.
—Kaden Pritchett: 12 kills, four blocks, two digs.
—Landry Patterson: one kill, one assist, 21 digs, six aces.
—Zayley Mobbs: five kills, 13 digs, three aces.
—Shelby Morris: six digs.
—Charlee Parris: 24 digs, two assists.
—Sophie Martin: three kills, 69 assists, eight digs, two aces.
—Cali Hess: one kill, one dig.
—Brenlee Curvin: four digs.
