Ridgeland earns a No. 3 seed for state
The Ridgeland Lady Panthers will be going on the road for the first round of the Class AAAA state tournament.
Ridgeland (20-15), who came into the Region 7-AAAA tournament as the third seed, finished the same way and will travel to Locust Grove this week to face Luella (6-13) on Wednesday. The Lady Lions are the No. 2 seed from Region 5.
The best-of-five match will take place on Wednesday afternoon.
Play in the region tournament began this past Thursday as the Lady Panthers faced sixth-seeded Southeast Whitfield at Heritage High School and it was the Black-and-White posting a 25-16, 25-17 victory.
With the win, the Lady Panthers faced second-seeded Heritage in a winners’ bracket semifinal, but it was the host team taking the match, 25-13, 25-15.
Koda O’Dell had nine kills, an ace and a dig in the two matches. Natalee McClain had eight kills and one ace. CeCe Davenport finished with six kills. Meagan Cordova had four kills, two aces and two digs, while Bailey Fowler ended the night with nine digs and one ace.
Also contributing for the Lady Panthers was Ashley Ladd (two aces, one kill), Abigail Knight (two digs, one ace), Emily Ensley (two aces), Brylee Benson (one dig), and Madison Lennon (one dig).
The tournament moved to Northwest Whitfield on Saturday and Ridgeland opened the day with an elimination game against fourth-seeded Cedartown. However, the Lady Panthers would outlast the Lady Bulldogs for the third time in less than two weeks, 27-25, 18-25, 15-8, to secure a state berth and earn a rematch with Heritage in the elimination bracket final.
Ridgeland, however, fell to the Lady Generals, 25-10, 25-11, in the elimination bracket final.
Davenport had 21 kills, four blocks and two aces on Saturday and McClain recorded 19 kills, three digs and an ace. Cordova finished with 10 kills, a dig and an ace, and Fowler added 14 digs and one ace.
O’Dell chipped in with six digs and four kills. Knight picked up five kills, four aces and four digs and Ivey Stargel finished with six digs, two kills and an ace. Ladd added six digs and a pair of aces, Benson collected eight digs and Lennon had six digs.
McClain was selected to the Region 7-AAAA first team, while Fowler and Asia Silmon were second team selections.
The Lady Panthers wrapped up the regular season last Tuesday by splitting a tri-match at LaFayette. Ridgeland took down Pepperell (25-22, 25-9), but dropped a decision to the Lady Ramblers (25-14, 25-17) in the nightcap.
McClain had 13 kills, four aces and a dig. O’Dell had 10 kills, two aces and a dig. Knight picked up six kills. Cordova added four kills and a dig, while Fowler had 11 digs and a pair of kills.
Also contributing for the Lady Panthers was Stargel (two kills, two aces), Ladd (two kills, one ace), Benson (seven digs), Lennon (four digs), Davenport (one kill) and Emily Ensley (one dig).