Lady Eagles' winning streak stopped in Vinemont Invitational:
GDW Analysis:
VINEMONT: A second consecutive volleyball invitational was hosted by Vinemont.
Like last Saturday, the Lady Eagles played well, until they ousted from the tournament in semifinal play.
Vinemont had built momentum Saturday by going 3 & 0 in pool play and not losing a set.
However, the Cordova Blue Devils made a run and defeated the No. 9 team in the Class 3A state poll two games to one.
The visitors from Walker County claimed the tiebreaker by the final of 15 to 12.
It was a good day of volleyball hosted by Bobby Daniels and his Lady Eagles.
Gameday Weekly covered 14 matches in which five went to a decisive third game.
Vinemont came into the Labor Day weekend event 4 & 0 in regular season play and a 2 & 0 in area victories over JB Pennington and Holly Pond.
Vinemont went 3 & 1 in Pool A with Tharptown finishing at 2 & 1, Huntsville Christian 1 & 2 and Cold Springs 0 & 3.
In Pool B, Lindsay Lane was tops in taking 3 of 3 decisions while Cordova claimed 2 out of 3, Meek 1 & 2 and Hanceville 0 for 3.
Vinemont suffered a 1st set loss in the semi with Cordova 25 to 12. The Blue Devils performed very well to get the series lead as Vinemont had to regroup and rally.
The Lady Eagles smoothed out issues and took the 2nd set 25 to 21 to force a tiebreaker with the winner to get into the championship vs. Lindsay Lane.
Cordova scored six straight points to move on top 11 to 5 as a kill by Morgan Flanagan for Vinemont broke the surge.
A volley from Carley Stephens had Vinemont down 13 to 12 as Cordova had a volley by sophomore Isabella Raper and a kill to end the match at 5:51 p.m.
The seven match winning streak was over for Vinemont as they enter the Labor Day break with 11 wins and 3 losses. They have the best record of the local teams. Vinemont is undefeated in regular season play at 6 & 0 and 5 & 3 in back to back weekend tournaments.
Steady play for the Lady Eagles came from Stephens and Flanagan, plus in the semifinal series, Abby Kuykendall, Caroline Miller, Regan Robinson, Aubrey Sandlin and Mabri Smith.
GDW scoreboard from Vinemont invitational:
Pool A:
Vinemont over Huntsville Christian 25 to 15, 25 to 8
Tharptown over Cold Springs 25 to 10, 23 to 25, 15 to 5
Vinemont over Cold Springs 25 to 7, 25 to 8
Tharptown over Huntsville Christian 25 to 14, 23 to 25, 15 to 10
Vinemont over Tharptown 25 to 11, 25 to 18
Huntsville Christian over Cold Springs 25 to 11, 25 to 18
Pool B:
Lindsay Lane over Meek 25 to 15, 26 to 24
Cordova over Hanceville 25 to 14, 25 to 10
Lindsay Lane over Cordova 25 to 16m 25 to 19
Meek over Hanceville 25 to 15, 23 to 25, 15 to 9
Lindsay Lane over Hanceville 25 to 12, 25 to 16
Cordova over Meek 25 to 22, 19 to 25, 15 to 13
Semifinals:
Lindsay Lane over Tharptown 2 to 0
Cordova over Vinemont 2 to 1
Photo of game captains in Cold Springs vs. Vinemont match.
# 10 for Cold Springs is Joci Williams, For Vinemont from left is Aubrey Sandlin, Abby Kuykendall, Morgan Flanagan and Carley Stephens.
GDW photo by Johnny Thornton
