Decatur goes 4 & 0 in winning the Vinemont Invitational:
GDW Analysis:
VINEMONT: In hosting an invitational on Saturday, Vinemont volleyball experienced high and low moments.
The Lady Eagles came into their invitational 2 & 0 on opening day Thursday and ranked No. 10 in the state's first poll of the new season.
Vinemont managed to split its four assignments. The Lady Eagles swept Falkville 25 to 4 and 25 to 21.
Vinemont overcame a 1 to 0 deficit with a good Hayden team, beating the Lady Wildcats 25 to 20 and 15 to 8 in the tiebreaker.
The tough part of the day began in the opener when Vinemont was defeated by Lindsay Lane Academy in making its season debut.
Lindsay Lane won 25 to 15 and 25 to 12.
Coach Bobby Daniels Lady Eagles closed out the assignment playing Decatur.
Decatur came from the River City ready to go and left Vinemont gymnasium with wins of 25 to 6 and 25 to 17 vs. the Lady Eagles.
Decatur would take the championship trophy as they did not lose a set all day.
Decatur began its round robin in taking down Hayden 25 to 17 and 25 to 23. The Red Raiders claimed two close victories over Lindsay Lane 25 to 22, 25 to 22.
Up next was Falkville. Decatur earned a sweep by scores of 25 to 20 and 25 to 9.
Highlights from the two wins by Vinemont:
Against Falkville, the Lady Eagles were led in the first set by the serving of Carley Stephens. The senior tallied 16 consecutive points in basically taking care of Falkville herself.
Falkville broke service from Stephens with the score at the time being 20 to 3.
The last four points came from serves by Abby Kuykendall in an easy win in the first set.
Mabri Smith sparked Vinemont by converting nine in a row at the service line in the 2nd set with the Lady Eagles moving out to a 10 to 2 advantage.
Vinemont could not put away the Blue Devils. Falkville charged back in closing the deficit to 24 to 21. The Laday Eagles took the match in 37 minutes when Falkville had an error that led to the ending of a 25 to 21 decision.
Hayden and Vinemont played one of the best matches of the day. The Lady Wildcats had nine kills in the first set. Vinemont wiped out a 21 to 17 disadvantage in making a strong run by kills from Addison Holcomb and Stephens and service points from Morgan Flanagan.
Down by one, Vinemont committed a four hits violation that allowed Hayden to win the opener 25 to 23.
The Lady Eagles were much sharper in the 2nd set when Hayden tried to rally.
Vinemont was able to turn back each attempt. Flanagan executed a volley to break Hayden's serve and lead 23 to 20. Service points by Smith ended the set and forced the first tiebreaker of the day.
A fast start with five consecutive points by Stephens had Vinemont on top. Hayden narrowed it to 10 to 7 when Stephens got a kill and two huge serves off the bench from Aubrey Sandlin gave them the momentum they needed to claim victory.
Hayden served the ball into the net to make it 14 to 8 Lady Eagles with Vinemont ending the 1 hour, 2 minute showdown on a service point by Smith.
For the first weekend of the new AHSAA season, Vinemont has four wins in six decisions.
GDW scoreboard:
Decatur over Hayden 25 to 17, 25 to 23
Decatur over Lindsay Lane 25 to 22, 25 to 22
Decatur over Falkville 25 to 20, 25 to 9
Decatur over Vinemont 25 to 6, 25 to 17 (Championship)
Photo of Vinemont captains Carley Stephens (2), Aubrey Sandline (15), Morgan Flanagan (3) and Abby Kuykendall (7) in coin toss before their match with Hayden at the Vinemont Invitational.
GDW photo by Johnny Thornton
