Spartans sweep Jaguars
Published
12:05am Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Shelby County Reporter
By CLAYTON
HURDLE / Staff Writer
NORTH SHELBY – It took a
quick three sets for defending Class 6A, Area 12 champion Mountain Brook to
dispose of the Spain Park Jaguars in a home volleyball match Tuesday evening.
The Spartans
outlasted visiting Spain Park 25-16, 25-18, 25-12 to reach 10-1 on the season.
The Jaguars
struggled to get many rallies going throughout the match; starting the first
game with a 3-0 lead, the longest points streak came for Spain Park as they
stalled game point in the second set six straight times.
“We had a lot
of points from behind the service line,” Mountain Brook coach Haven O’Quinn
said. “We kept [Spain Park] out of their system of offense because of our
serving.”
The two teams
fought a back-and-forth battle to begin the match, coming to a 9-9 tie before
the Spartans dashed out to a 15-10 lead.
Spain Park
remained competitive in the first set until, leading 20-16, the Spartans took a
5-0 run to end the set. Greer Cunningham led the way for Mountain Brook,
serving the team’s last five points.
In the second
game the Jaguars held a 9-8 lead before Jordan Hughes led a seven-point rally
for the Spartans.
After extending
the lead to 18-12, a six-point streak put Mountain Brook at set point. Jordan
Nakayama led a six-point rally for the Jaguars to keep their chances alive in
the set but it wasn’t enough to completely overcome the Spartans.
“There were a
few rallies that we played as a team,” Spain Park coach Paula Dill said. “But
we did not perform our game plan like we talked about and worked on.”
Facing a sweep,
the Jaguars scored the first two points of the third set with a pair of
Nakayama service aces.
The Spartans
took the next four points and had a 10-7 lead after another four-point run.
From there, Mountain Brook took control of the game, outscoring Spain Park 15-5
to finish the match.
Cunningham led
all players offensively with 16 kills for the Spartans. “Greer stood out on the
outside with some nice big swings,” O’Quinn said.
