Prep Sports

This week’s Division 2-A state volleyball tournament in Murfreesboro could rightly be called the West Tennessee Classic.

Three of the four teams in the field will be from Shelby County as Harding, St. George’s and St. Mary’s won substate matches Saturday to advance.

The most surprising were the Turkeys, who placed third in the West Region and went on the road to defeat East/Middle No. 2 seed Zion Christian 25-17, 22-25, 25-19, 25-22. It will be the first final four appearance for St. Mary’s.

“We came out ready to play and were very solid in the first (set),” said Turkeys coach Kari Duncan. “Then we started to play a little reactionary in the second and lost, but once we decided to just play our game, we got back on track. Our defense today was just great, but it was really a team effort.”

Harding, the top seed in the West Region, had no trouble with The King’s Academy, winning 2510, 25-10, 25-7. The Lions will take a 37-6 record into the tournament.

St. George’s, which lost to Harding in last week’s region title game, advanced with a 16-25, 25-6, 2516, 25-10 victory over Friendship Christian.

Evangelical Christian School, the other local hopeful in Division 2-A, lost on the road against nationally-ranked Knoxville Webb.

Briarcrest surged into the Division 2-AA tournament and won its 42nd match of the season, defeating Brentwood Academy 25-14, 25-14, 25-11. The Saints (42-4-1) will be joined at state by St. Agnes, which qualified with a victory over Nashville Ensworth last week.