Heritage wins third straight NGAC crown
The Gordon Lee Lady Trojans finished up the regular season with a thrilling, three-set victory over Heritage back on Sept. 24 to pull themselves into a three-way tie with Heritage and Lakeview for the regularseason championship.
But when the top-seeded Lady Generals faced the third-seeded Lady Trojans for the NGAC Tournament championship in LaFayette this past Thursday, Heritage was bound and determined that another loss would not be in the cards.
The Navy-and-Red slowly pulled away in the opening set for a 2515 victory before using a big run in the second set on their way to a 2514 win. Heritage came into the match with a significant height advantage and used it in winning a third consecutive conference tournament crown.
“It’s my first year coaching (volleyball) and I walk into tryouts and see Lexi (Berry) and Ava (Davey), and I’m like ‘there can’t be anyone else (in the league) as tall as they are’,” head coach Cody Lones recalled. “I knew that (height) would be an advantage for us all year and we were able to take advantage of it. When you get good passes and good sets to those two, it’s normally over.”
The two teams were tied 4-4 in the opening set before an ace by Ava Davey and a kill by Kambell Moore capped a short 4-0 run and gave Heritage some breathing room.
Gordon Lee, who was runner-up to Heritage last season after winning the previous four NGAC titles, countered with kills by E.G. Hixon and Kyla Foley, plus an ace from Jailey Haney, to stay within striking distance. But three consecutive aces by Macey Hales suddenly pushed the Lady Generals’ lead out to 16-9.
Heritage would steadily increase its lead from there, getting Davey’s second kill of the set before a final ace by Lauren Yarbrough gave them a 1-0 lead in the match.
Hales would step to the line to begin the second set and once again clicked off three aces in a row. However, Maddie Hayworth answered with back-to-back aces for the Lady Trojans as the Navy-and-White scored four consecutive points to take a 4-3 lead.
But the Lady Generals would take control of the set and the match over the next few minutes as they reeled off 11 consecutive points to go ahead, 14-4. Georgia Taylor had three aces during the run, while Davey hammered home four powerful kills.
Addison Cagle finally broke the run with a kill for Gordon Lee, but Joanna Loa would come off the bench with a kill for Heritage to set up three straight aces by Lexi Berry. The quick run boosted the Heritage lead to 19-6 and effectively sealed things up.
Aces by Davey and
Yarbrough, along with another kill from Loa, brought the Lady Generals to within a point of the championship. Gordon Lee would briefly stave off match point with an ace by Hixon and a kill by Foley, but a net violation would give the Lady Generals the final point and the title.
Davey, who went on to earn Tournament Most Valuable Player honors, finished with six kills and a pair of aces in the championship match. Apart from the six aces from Hales, Berry finished with four aces, Taylor had three, Yarbrough finished with two and Moore chipped in with one.
“We had some really good serves,” Lones added. “Macey really stepped up and I’m
really proud of her. We’ve been pretty good with the serves all year, but we’ve definitely gotten better down the stretch.”
Cagle had three kills and two aces for Gordon Lee. Foley finished the afternoon with two kills. Haney and Hayworth had two aces apiece. Hixon had a kill and an ace, while Lexi Foster finished with one kill.
Lones said it was exciting to win a title in his first season, but admitted to some nerves.
“It means a lot to bring this back to Heritage,” he said. “(Volleyball) is a tradition at Heritage and this makes three years in a row we’ve won it now, so I definitely didn’t want to change that in my first year of coaching.”
Fullcoverageoftherestof the NGAC Volleyball Tournamentcanbefoundonour website at northwestgeorgianews.com.