Lady Cats in Sweet 16

By Dusty Harper (Contact) | Alex City Outlook

Published Monday, October 19, 2009

For the second straight season, the Benjamin Russell volleyball team will have a home match for the right to go to the state tournament.

The Lady Wildcats defeated Russell County and Prattville in Saturday’s Regional B at Northview High School in Dothan to advance to the sub-state round of the postseason. Enterprise defeated BRHS in the championship match.

By winning two matches this weekend, the Lady Cats earned the right to host a do-or-die match on Thursday. If BRHS (28-9) can beat Daphne, it will head to Pelham for the state tournament on Oct. 28-29. A loss would end the season.

“I was really relieved with how we came out and played against Russell County,” BRHS head coach Pam Robinson said. “They were an area champion and the game was win or go home. But, the second match was the important one. It decided who hosted, and I told the girls that they don’t want to drive four hours and play either McGill-Toolen or Murphy, two of the best teams in the state. But, you can tell by the scores that we played well. We would have like to have finished first, but we got the right to host and that’s what we wanted.”

After a disappointing loss to Auburn in the area tournament finals, BRHS came out hot in the opener on Saturday. The Lady Cats won their first seven sets of the day, including three against Russell County (25-18, 25-12, 25-21) and three against Prattville (25-16, 25-12, 25-22). In the championship match, BRHS began things with a 25-18 win in the first game. But, Enterprise took the last three sets, 25-19, 25-19 and 25-17.

“We came out on fire against Enterprise,” Robinson said. “We had a really big lead at one point, but in the second game, it started going back and forth. Volleyball is such a momentum sport, and they grabbed momentum at the end of that game and we never really could get it back.”

For the tournament, BRHS served 95 percent as a team on 226 total chances, including 24 aces. Robinson said she was “extremely pleased” with that phase of the game. Sharlia Marbury led the way with 10 aces, Tori Lashley had 6 and Lauren Griffin had 4.

Torlandria Jones once again paced the Lady Cats with 50 total kills and 22 digs. Marbury added 26 kills and 23 digs of her own. Quad Robinson finished with 15 kills and 10 digs. Lashley had 52 assists and 14 digs, and Ashley Jones closed with 44 assists and 8 digs.

Kaylen Given, Y’Keona Kelley and Jazmin Lopez combined for 16 kills. Lopez also had 18 blocks, second most on the roster behind Jones, who had 26. Given chipped in with 14 blocks.

The Daphne match on Thursday is scheduled to start at 5 p.m.

“I think we match up favorably with Daphne,” Robinson said. “They just lost to St. James not long ago, and we beat them three times. But, they beat Gulf Shores in the Briarwood tournament and we lost to them. So, it should be a good match. If we win, we go to state. If we lose, we pack everything up and everybody moves on to what’s next.”

BRHS advanced this to this match last season, but lost to Murphy.

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