GDW reports on a pair of 3A, Area 11 VB assignments Thursday:

Holly Pond sweeps Hanceville at home, Vinemont wins on the road:

GDW Analysis:
Gameday Weekly took in a pair of important volleyball assignments in AHSAA 3A, Area 11 on Thursday.
The assignment started from Dewayne Adams' Court/Felton Easterwood Gym with Holly Pond claiming a sweep of Hanceville in 3 games. Very much different that 9 days earlier when Holly Pond had to outlast Hanceville in 5 sets.
After seeing Holly Pond perform, a short drive by GDW went into Blount County for Vinemont meeting JB Pennington.
Vinemont got the victory, but the toughest in sweeping Pennington in three games 26 to 24, 28 to 26 and 25 to 15.
Now going into next week, Vinemont is atop the standings at 5 & 0 and 18 & 5 on the season.
Holly Pond is hanging right on the heels of Vinemont, four wins in five area decisions and 16 total from 22 matches played a month into the 2025 schedule.
Both will get to see one another next Thursday in a rematch from Holly Pond (September 18). Vinemont pulled it out over Holly Pond 3 to 2 on September 4.
Holly Pond:
Adrien Adams' Lady Broncos have caught fire with 7 victories out of 8 matches since last weekend when they served as host of the Monica Ayers Classic.
A good team that is young, Adams has five starters in their sophomore season, one senior and a freshman.
Her freshman are starting to peek in going on the floor and giving consistency with the Lady Broncos leading county volleyball in the most five sets played, a total of three in winning against Hanceville and Good Hope and the close loss to Vinemont.
Facing Hanceville Thursday, the Lady Broncos posted a 25 to 16 win in the opener.
Hanceville made the challenge a lot tougher in the next two sets. Holly Pond fought back Morgan Hammock's Lady Bulldogs 25 to 18 and 25 to 19 with the match ending at 5:00 p.m.
This battle was played in 60 minutes.
GDW analyzed steady play in the match by sophomore Isabella Foust, a middle hitter.
Her time was valuable but not alone. Freshman Sadie Nail had a series of kills and blocks up front.

 These two were the mainstay to lead the in crunch time of the first set for the triumph at 25 to 16.
Hanceville rose up and presented a good 2nd set with the Lady Bulldogs sprinting to a 12 to 4 lead after a service point by Bentley Childers.
Holly Pond managed to cool off the Lady Bulldogs and a kill by senior Blakely Baggett sent them ahead in the set for the first time at 14 to 13.
Ava Olinger gave the Lady Broncos three points on serve then Holly Pond closed out the set when Hanceville served it out of bounds and the Lady Broncos took it 25 to 18.
Four consecutive points at the service area were huge by Foust, She delivered an ace and it was Holly Pond 21 to 14.
But Hanceville went back to work from positive plays by Alex Twitty, Lexi Link and Eva Giles, they closed to 22 to 18.
Hanceville surrendered a point on a foot fault at the service line with the set ending on a kill from Ava Olinger.

 Winning from the friendly confines of the home court has enabled Holly Pond to be a victor since the Ayers Classic in four out of five chances.
Wins earlier this week were on the road at Locust Fork and the comeback they enjoyed at Good Hope, presenting the Lady Raiders with their first home loss of the season.
Vinemont:
Understanding the situation when playing on the road in comparison to a comfortable home environment, Vinemont coach Kaydi Woodard watched her Lady Eagles fight off a Pennington group that made the opportunity to win nothing else to collect.
Vinemont withstood Pennington by breaking serve when the score of the first set was even at 24 to 24.
A kill by Ava Abernathy put then ahead and then Reagan Robinson got the set winner on a kill off a serve by Caroline Miller.
In the 2nd set, Pennington slide ahead at 26 to 25 by scoring on a kill. The Lady Eagles then tallied the next point and went up by a point from an ace by senior Addison Holcomb.
Callie Briggs came to the rescue with a kill on the next serve and Vinemont was ahead 2 to 0 in trying to maintain momentum for Pennington was pushing the leader of Area 11 to the limit.
Miller got it going on serves in Game 3 with 5 in a row to open up a 15 to 5 advantage.
Pennington stopped Vinemont for a short time and used three solid kills for points to narrow the margin to 19 to 14.
The play of Natalie Foell and Mabri Smith with the game hanging in the balance was the finishing touches for the Lady Eagles to leave Blountsville and stay a game ahead of Holly Pond in the area schedule.
Smith would get credited for service points, the final five of the game.
Foell completed a day that pleased her coach with a kill to end the hotly contest battle at 6:38 p.m.
The match was played in 1 hour, 11 minutes.
Vinemont and Holly Pond were the top two from the area last season.
Right now these county rivals are headed on a collision course for it to be decided by them once again.

Photo of Holly Pond players Isabella Foust (1), Sadie Nail (20) and Anna Olinger (10) in a match at Holly Pond August 28.
Photo courtesy of Jennifer Cagle Nail.