Lady Eagles roll to 1st round sweep
Taylor Roberts leads Coosa with 17 aces in a dominating performance.
Coosa’s volleyball team is picking up on the motto of “unfinished business” entering these Class AA playoffs, a nod to its end last season one win shy of a state championship.
From the opening point of the Lady Eagles’ first round match Tuesday evening, the team showed it was ready to take care of business and solidify its standing as a top contender again.
The Area 3-AA champion hosted KIPP Charter, the No. 4 team from Area 4-AA, and controlled the pace of the match throughout to sweep the Lady Warriors 25-5, 25-5, 25-3 to kick off the 2017 state playoffs.
Coosa advances to the Elite Eight for the fourth year in a row and improves to 46-7 on the season.
“That is what we needed,” Coosa coach Nic Hann said. “And it is all that I’ve preached to the girls in the past four practices, especially after last Tuesday.”
The Lady Eagles lost to Alabama teams Sand Rock and Sardis on the road last week as they waited for the start of the playoffs. Hann said the effects were felt.
“It was a reality check and woke us up,” he said. “Sand Rock is solid every year, so it definitely helped in getting us prepared. It motivated us.”
Taylor Roberts led a full team effort with a dominating performance both at the net and on the service line. The senior 6-foot-1 middle blocker had nine kills and 17 aces.
Her younger sister, Jordan Roberts, had nine kills as well, while Kasey Thacker had seven kills, Gracie Shumate had six aces and Brinley Smith recorded 25 assists in the match.
The final set was the most impressive for the Lady Eagles’ as Smith started off with the serving before KIPP broke it up at 8-2.
Then Taylor Roberts came on to serve with the score 12-3 and served for the remaining 13 points, including the match winner that was spiked successfully by Thacker for the exclamation point.
The remaining eight teams in Class AA will be reseeded by the GHSA into the Class AA championship brackets with the top four teams hosting Saturday’s quarterfinal matches.