Heritage outlasts Gordon Lee in five-set volleyball showdown
Two of the top three ranked teams in all of Class AAAA by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution met for the first time this season last Tuesday and it was the No. 2 Heritage Lady Generals holding off No. 3 Northwest Whitfield, 25-22 and 33-31, in an Area 7-AAAA match in Boynton.
Heritage (1-0 in 7-AAAA) was up 24-21 in the second set, when Northwest rallied, setting off the back and forth that ultimately culminated in the Lady Generals’ win.
Lauren Francis had nine kills, nine assists, three blocks and two aces in the victory. Aaliyah Rodgers stepped up with seven kills, four aces and a pair of blocks. Avery Phillips had 12 assists with three aces and Anna Wilks recorded a dozen digs and one ace.
A highly-anticipated and highly-entertaining matchup saw Heritage outlast Gordon Lee, 25-22, 9-25, 18-25, 25-23 and 15-8 in a five-set thriller in Chickamauga on Thursday.
Kallie Carter had 11 kills and six blocks for the Lady Generals. Francis collected 19 assists to go with seven kills, 14 digs and two aces, while Wilks had 16 digs and a pair of aces.
Emoree Rogers had 22 assists, seven kills, four blocks and four aces for the (Class A/AA Public) No. 3-ranked
Lady Trojans. Brooklyn Hudson picked up 16 kills, 17 digs and four blocks. Annie McDaniel added 24 digs and Ashlyn Boyd helped out with 15 digs.
Heritage goes 3-1 at North Forsyth
At Saturday’s Coal Mountain Classic, the Lady Generals won three straight matches in pool play against South Effingham (25-8, 25-11), Mountain View (25-15, 257) and West Forsyth (2518, 26-24), but fell to Harris County (25-22, 25-18) in Gold Bracket play.
Francis had 16 kills, 48 assists, six blocks, five aces and 21 digs on the day. Wilks collected 10 aces and 24 digs, while Rodgers had 19 kills, 11 digs and five aces for Heritage (11-3).
Gordon Lee takes bracket runner-up trophy
The Lady Trojans traveled west to Guntersville, Ala. to play in the Supreme Courts Tournament on Saturday and were tested against some bigger schools, especially in pool play.
Gordon Lee fell to Class 7A McGill-Toolen (26-24, 20-25, 12-15) and Class 5A Alexandria (16-25, 25-23, 13-15) before beating Class 3A Geraldine (18-25, 25-13, 15-6). In bracket play, they defeated Class 1A Donoho (25-20, 25-21) and took out Class 6A Albertville (25-9, 25-14) in the semifinals.
However, they would drop a close match against Class 5A and host Guntersville, 2523 and 26-24, in the bracket finals.
McDaniel had 70 digs on the day. Rogers finished with 32 kills, 60 assists and seven blocks. Hudson recorded 43 kills, 14 blocks and 31 digs. Arilyn Lee had 30 kills and 17 blocks, while M.K. Roberts added 51 assists and 15 kills for Gordon Lee (11-5).