No. 1 middle school seed takes a tri match victory in Cullman:
GDW Analysis:
A battle tested Good Hope Middle School volleyball team used a tri match Thursday from Cullman MS Gymnasium to prepare itself for a huge event coming up on Saturday.
The 8th grade Lady Raiders took wins over Cullman 2 to 0 and Fairview 2 to 1 as they have won an impressive 38 of 41 matches this season for coach Tiffany Hinkle Pope.
Good Hope enters the Cullman County Tournament at Holly Pond Middle School Gym Saturday the top seed and defending county champion. Good Hope is 8 & 0 against county foes.
Forty three minutes was what it took for Good Hope to sweep Cullman 25 to 19 and 25 to 15.
The Lady Raiders are a balanced unit with everyone working together and when they do, things flow smoothly.
Lakyn Burgess, Kylie Smith, Gracie Bates, Ashlyn Link, Isabella Guzman and Peyton McSwain start for Hinkle Pope. Bella White also gives the team contribution from rotating in the back row to the front line. Others that caught the attention of Gameday Weekly Thursday were Riley Lansford, Addisyn Orton and Emma Goggins.
Good Hope had better times in the match than Cullman did. The Lady Bearcats fought hard by their personnel of Reagan Burden, Ainsley Aldredge, Lucy Collins, Samantha Johnson, Haylie West.Brattley McBrayer and Rhylee Gudel.
Good Hope won the first set in good fashion over Fairview 25 to 7.
Fairview sent the match into a tiebreaker by a steady performance in the 2nd set for a 25 to 18 triumph.
Then in the 3rd set, the Lady Raiders got to the lead and managed to go on to a 15 to 8 decision. The match was played in 53 minutes, ending ay 6:25 p.m.
Fairview could be seeing Good Hope again if both teams win in the quarterfinal round of the county tournament Saturday.
Fairview will go for consistency from Addie Stacy, Arleigh Harris, Emma Cobbs, Emma Bryan, Kenzington Daniel and Alianna Wunderlich.
No. 1 Good Hope plays the winner of 8 seed Hamrony vs. 9 seed Hanceville at 10:45 a.m. 4th seed Fairview faces 5th seed Parkside in a 10:45 match as both are on the same side of the upper bracket.
The lower part of the bracket in the quarterfinals is 2 seed West
Point vs. 7 seed Vinemont and 3 seed Cold Springs vs. 6 seed Holly Pond. These games are to be at 12:00 p.m.
The championship is set for a 2:30 p.m. start.
Photo of Good Hope's Kylie Smith (12) and Bella White (26) before the Lady Raiders played in a tri match at Cullman Middle School Thursday.
GDW photo by Johnny Thornton.
