Gordon Lee earns third straight 7-AA/A title

The Gordon Lee Lady Trojans haven’t shied away from the fact that they set a goal at the start of the 2020 season to play for a state championship.

The first step toward doing that was securing the regular season area championship, which happened a week ago, and on Saturday, they moved into Phase 2.

Hosting the 7-AA/A Tournament in their own gym, Gordon Lee was simply overpowering in wins over Gordon Central and Dade County as they earned the area title for the third consecutive year.

With the victory comes a No. 1 seed for the state tournament, which is tentatively slated to begin on Oct. 21.

“Our goal was to get in here (today) and finish with the No. 1 seed,” head coach Adam Crowley said. “We like how the brackets could fall and we’re excited about that. Plus, we’re finally getting healthy again and that’s huge. Now it’s time to tweak the lineup and see what works the best.”

Already a formidable foe for most teams in the northwest Georgia area, even at 75-80 percent, the Lady Trojans played Saturday’s tournament with Gracie Thomas and Emoree Rogers back in the lineup after both had been sidelined mid-season with injuries.

Both made their presence known on Saturday as well. Thomas had a dozen kills, while Rogers dished out 29 assists and recorded 10 aces, but they were only part of equation as the Lady Trojans came out firing and never let up.

After a first-round bye and a 25-13, 25-4, 25-5 semifinal victory over Gordon Central, the Navy-and-white turned its attention to state-ranked and second-seeded Dade County in the title match.

The first set was little more than target practice for the Lady Trojans, who shook off a very early 3-1 deficit by scoring 15 consecutive points and coasting to the 25-6 win.

Better play by Dade County and a couple of unforced mistakes by the Lady Trojans kept the Lady Wolverines within striking distance for the bulk of the second set. Gordon Lee’s lead was 19-16 when some well-placed serves and timely shots by Sam Cramer and a pair of thunderous kills by Brooklyn Hudson — who picked up her second straight Area Player of the Year award before the final match — allowed Gordon Lee to pull away late for a 25