GDW Analysis:
HOOVER: A judgement call late in the 5th set was very hard to swallow for Holly Pond volleyball Wednesday.
Trailing Fyffe by a 12 to 10 tally in the tiebreaking set of the 3A North Regional first round, Holly Pond thought they was to be given a point when at first a kill by Fyffe went out of play.
However, a call from the line judge on the opposite side of the team's benches and scorers' table, claimed that a Holly Pond player touched the ball prior to it leaving the court of play.
Holly Pond coach Adrien Adams spoke with the umpire as a discussion was held. The call stood with Geraldine now up 13 to 10.
Holly Pond got back a pair of points with a block from Blakely Baggett to make it 14 to 13.
Fyffe then finished the match with a kill, taking it 3 games to 2 in 1 hour, 47 minutes from the Finley Center.
Holly Pond overcame losing the opening set 25 to 17 with steady play in the next two games by the same tally of 25 to 20.
Fyffe regrouped with a good outing in Game 4 at 25 to 17.
The Lady Broncos went from being down 6 to 3 to moving in front 7 to 6 on a service point by lefthander Sadie Nail.
The next 5 points went on Fyffe's side of the scoreboard to make it 11 to 7.
Another surge by Holly Pond pulled them to 11 to 10 prior to a volley point being scored by Fyffe.
Then the judgement call impacted the completion of the hard fought match.
A very good season for the Lady Broncos ends with 26 victories & 13 losses.
In the last 4 seasons with Adams at the control, Holly Pond VB has enjoyed 100 victories, averaging 25 a season in this span.
This was the 2nd straight year Adams and her group made it to the regional now being played next to Hoover Metropolitan Stadium.
Holly Pond has three seniors that laid it on the line in Baggett, Ava Thomas and Morgan Bartlett.
Nail just completed her freshmen season and is expected to be a factor for the team in 2026.
She will be joined by the good play from current sophomores Isabella Foust, Cira Thrift, Sofia Hays, Ava Olinger and Anna Olinger.
Hard work will once again be a huge product for this program as they were 7 & 1 in the hotly contested 3A, Area 11 regular season, claiming the top spot over Vinemont by a number of set victories, 5 to 4 against them in the two area encounters September 4 from Vinemont and September 18 at Holly Pond.
Photo of the Holly Pond bench watching their team play in the AHSAA North Regional Wednesday from the Finley Center in Hoover.
GDW photo by Johnny Thornton.
