Holly Pond VB overcomes mistakes to win area match Tuesday:
Lady Broncos with 7 straight match wins and 10 of last 11:
GDW Analysis:
BLOUNTSVILLE: Mistakes were unfortunately attached to Holly Pond VB Tuesday in their 3A, Area 11 assignment with JB Pennington.
But great character was shown by the Lady Broncos as their talent was able to offset the adversity and sweep Pennington 26 to 24, 25 to 16 and 27 to 25.
Holly Pond is now 6 & 1 in 3A, Area 11.
Now is a rematch and a showdown with Vinemont Thursday from Dwayne Adams' Court/Felton Easterwood Gymnasium.
Vinemont took a 5 & 0 area record Tuesday to Locust Fork.
The Lady Eagles beat the Lady Broncos in a thriller September 4 from Vinemont 3 games to 2.
Since September 06, Holly Pond has won 10 of 11 matchups and 7 in a row.
Miscues from Tuesday's battle included seven net service errors in the 1st set and a illegal alignment call after Holly Pond had called a timeout.
The miscue at the timeout allowed Pennington a point as they went up 13 to 11.
That was something Adrien Adams' Lady Broncos used to motivate them and go on to victory in a 30 minute first set of the match.
With Pennington scoring to tie the set at 24 to 24, Holly Pond got a point on a volley by senior Blakely Baggett. A kill from sophomore outside hitter Ava Olinger ended the first set in a 26 to 24 final.
Things seemed to smooth out for Holly Pond in Game 2. The Lady Broncos started the set with an ace from Cira Thrift and would move the advantage in the game to 19 to 10 as freshman Sadie Nail got a kill from the right side up front.
Pennington did make a run and was back contending, down 19 to 15.
Sophomore Isabella Foust delivered four service points with one going as an ace.
Thrift delivered a front row block to finish the set in a 25 to 16 decision.
Pennington refused to let the Lady Broncos sweep them without a stern challenge in the third set.
Back and forth the two exchanged scoring with three consecutive volley points to put Pennington in front 22 to 19.
Holly Pond showed the toughness to keep the Lady Tigers from sending the match into a 4th game.
After a Lady Bronco serve was out of play and the score tied at 25 to 25, Nail used her aggressive play on a kill that would keep the Lady Broncos ahead for the rest of this one.
Foust was credited with the match winner from the service line with the contest coming to a close at 6:49 p.m.
These two fought through three grueling sets in 1 hour, 21 minutes.
As the match moved on, Holly Pond minimized the service error of hitting into the net from 7 in Game 1 to 4 in the last 2 sets.
The Lady Broncos did serve out of play three times in the last game.
Otherwise, Adams' group put up a sound effort with her youngsters making a huge impact to keep them right on Vinemont entering the showdown Thursday.
Thrift, Foust, Nail and Ava Olinger are young with Nail a freshman the others as sophomore players.
However, they have been on an uphill climb in performance with a lot of it to be credited to victory last Tuesday at Good Hope.
Down 2 games to 0, the Lady Broncos went to work and won the last three with a 15 to 13 verdict in the 5th set.
Her seniors of Baggett, Ava Thomas and Morgan Bartlett raised their playing level Monday in beating Locust Fork 3 to 0 in area play and then outlasting Southeastern 2 games to 1 on senior recognition night.
Holly Pond is 19 & 6 for the season with its biggest match of the year to be on Thursday on campus.
Photo of the conclusion of Holly Pond's 3 to 0 victory over Locust Fork September 08 at Locust Fork.
Photo courtesy of Jennifer Cagle Nail.
