Lady Ramblers stop Ridgeland
LAFAYETTE — With the Area 7-AAAA volleyball tournament set to start this Thursday, the LaFayette Lady Ramblers grabbed a little momentum and a little confidence after splitting a pair of home matches with fifth-ranked Heritage and county rival Ridgeland on Senior Night.
The confidence came from pushing the Lady Generals to the limit in a marathon three-setter, and the momentum was achieved by bouncing back to knock off the Lady Panthers in two straight.
LaFayette got past Heritage, 27-25, in the first set before dropping the second set, 25-18. The third set would be a thriller with the Lady Generals finally prevailing, 32-30.
After getting a brief rest as Heritage beat Ridgeland, 25-22, 25-11, the Lady Ramblers were able to gut a pair of 25-20 victories against their Walker County neighbors.
“The first match was just so intense,” LaFayette head coach Whitney Stinson said. “Heritage is definitely one of the best teams in our area right now, and Ridgeland has a great young team that just going to get better in the next few years.
“But I am so proud of our seniors. They are great girls who fought hard tonight. We really wanted that last match and they played their hearts out. They were definitely tired after the Heritage match, so I’m super proud of them.”
Breianna Maggard continued her stellar season with 23 kills, 32 digs, and eight blocks on the night for the Lady Ramblers. Abbey Hannah added 12 kills, 18 digs, and 38 assists. Christina Hannah finished with seven kills, 22 digs, and three aces. Karissa Tatum helped out with 11 kills and seven blocks, while Brooke Sharp and Jessie McDaniels had 22 and 21 digs, respectively.
“Coming off a match like (the one against Heritage), a win like that (over Ridgeland) was really satisfying for all of us,” Stinson added. “We’re starting to see some of the things we work on every day in practice start to click. We know that on any given day, we can play right there with the best of them.”
For Ridgeland, Nicole Lonsford had a dozen kills in the two matches, while Katelyn Baker added 10.
“Both times we fought back (against LaFayette), but just not enough to win,” said Ridgeland head coach Kari Cooper, whose team dropped to 18-16 overall. “Coming from behind to win is one of the things we’ve been able to do with some success this season, but we just weren’t able to do it tonight.”
Cooper said Ridgeland’s current threematch losing streak concerns her with the area tournament right around the corner.
“I think we have to focus on that desire to win and making sure it’s consistent at every level of every game,” she added.
LaFayette (22-15) will host Dalton on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. in the opening round of the area tournament.
Ridgeland sweeps at Coahulla Creek
The Lady Panthers also found some momentum to carry with them into the area tournament as they swept Calhoun and Coahulla Creek in a tri-match at Coahulla Creek on Thursday.
Ridgeland needed three sets, but got past Calhoun, 25-18, 21-25, 25-22. They capped the night with a 25-20, 30-28 win over the Lady Colts.
Individual statistics were not available as of press time.
The Lady Panthers completed the regular season with a 20-16 overall record. They will play again this Thursday at Northwest Whitfield in the opening round of the Area 7-AAAA tournament. Match time is set for 5:30 p.m.
The second and final day of the 7-AAAA tournament will be Saturday at Heritage High School. The top four teams will advance to the Class AAAA state playoffs.