Wednesday, September 5, 2012


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.