Lafayette finishes as 6-AAAA runners-up

It may not have been the area championship they were hoping for, but the Lafayette Lady Ramblers ended up with the next best thing on Saturday.

The Orange-and-black left Southeast Whitfield High School with the Area 6-AAAA volleyball runnerup trophy and will head to Cartersville High School on Saturday for the first round of the state playoffs and what they hope will be a secondround appearance later in the week.

Third-seeded Lafayette, who coasted past sixth-seeded Pickens this past Thursday, opened the day by knocking off second-seeded Heritage. The Lady Ramblers, who were 1-2 against the Lady Generals in the regular season, lost the first set, 25-22, but came storming back to win the final two sets, 25-15 and 28-26, to advance to the winners’ bracket final.

There they face top-seeded Northwest Whitfield and gave the Lady Bruins a scare. However, Northwest would take the match in three sets, 25-13, 16-25 and 25-20.

With the state playoffs already secured with the win over Heritage, Lafayette dispatched upset-minded Ridge- land, 25-11 and 25-23, to earn a rematch with Northwest for the area championship. But, a tiring Lady Rambler team would fall to the Lady Bruins in the best-of-five match, 25-16, 25-22 and 25-21.

All-area first-team selection Jillian Morgan ended the day with 36 kills, 21 blocks, and nine aces. Gracie Stier, a second-team pick, had 15 kills, 14 digs, five aces and a pair of blocks. Freshman Colby Charland, another second-team selection, dished out a total of 54 assists on the day. She also finished with eight kills, nine blocks, eight digs and eight aces. Honorable mention selection Bailey Tarvin had 14 digs and six aces.

Micaela Hobbs had 20 digs on the afternoon to go with three aces. Sarah Ray provided support at the net in the form of five kills and 11 blocks. Imani Cook had 11 kills and three blocks. Elaina Kirkendoll had two kills and two blocks. Darsey Shields had two kills, while Kloe Ludy (eight digs, one kill), Daisy Felipe (two aces) and Kailey Boulware (one dig) contributed to the cause.

Lafayette (42-7) will take on White County, the No. 3 seed from Area 7, in the first round of the playoffs on Saturday at Cartersville High School.