Cullman County JV volleyball title goes to West Point:
No. 2 seed in junior varsity wins the crown in dramatic fashion:
GDW Analysis:
VINEMONT: Given the opportunity to face the No. 1 seed in the Cullman County junior varsity volleyball tournament Thursday evening, 2nd seed West Point Lady Warriors made the most of it.
West Point lost the top seed to Good Hope the week before in a tiebreaker at Jim Boyd Gymnasium.
The Lady Warriors earned a trip to the title round by sweeping Cold Springs in the quarterfinal and claiming victory with Fairview in the semifinal.
Good Hope was undefeated in the county pairings and had performed well on Tuesday by eliminating Vinemont in 2 games.
Another tiebreaker would decide the fate of the JV division.
West Point won it by a final of 15 to 8 in the 3rd set as the match was played in 1 hour from Vinemont Gymnasium.
Both times these two squads went to battle, an extra set was needed in displaying parity for the JV and showing a positive outlook when these players move on to the varsity group.
West Point got a 1 to 0 lead in the series with a 25 to 17 decision.
Kills by Brayley Phillips and Bai McSwain enabled West Point to step up the margin to 14 to 7.
Good Hope did close to 22 to 17 thanks to a volley from Gracie Bates off a serve by teammate Kylee Smith.
Resse Guthrie had a kill and a block in crunch time to end the set as West Point was playing with confidence.
The 2nd set was much better for Good Hope. The Lady Raiders ironed out some minor issues and took the contest 25 to 22.
Ella Davis converted a pair of serves with one an ace and the Lady Raiders were up 12 to 5.
Back came West Point behind four consecutive scores from the service line from Jordan Miller.
Miller drew her team within a point at 17 to 16. Good Hope broke West Point's serve and used a kill by Bates, a kill from Smith and one by Emma Goggins to create an even match and send the battle into a tiebreaker.
West Point started fast in the 3rd game. Scoring by Phillips, 2 kills and a block from Guthrie, a block by Miller had them up 7 to 1.
A solid effort from Kennedy Poag helped the Lady Warriors. She scored on a volley and the advantage was at 9 to 4.
Good Hope did close to 11 to 8 on a volley from Smith.
Then the Lady Raiders served the ball out of play and West Point would go on to close it out at 6:28 p.m.
The play of Guthrie and Miller from the front was huge when the set reached crunch time.
Miller converted the final point and the Lady Warriors capped off a fine week of county volleyball with the championship trophy.
GDW All Performance team JV division:
West Point: Jordan Miller, Brayley Phillips, Bai McSwain.
Good Hope: Kylee Smith, Ella Davis, Gracie Bates.
Fairview: Arleigh Harris, Savannah Freeman,
Vinemont: Nora Burks, Nicole Harris
Hanceville: Brylay Canady, Lila Kate Leusby.
Most outstanding performer JV division:
Jordan Miller of West Point - Miller went to work from the beginning and was steady all night from serving to playing the front row.
A block in the 3rd set allowed West Point to take a 7 to 1 lead. She would end the match with a kill from left to right that was unable for Good Hope to handle.
Photo from left, Bai McSwain, Brayley Phillips and Jordan Miller of West Point JV, selected to the GDW All Performance team at the county tournament.
Miller was named the Most Outstanding Player.
GDW photo by Johnny Thornton.
