High school volleyball: Spartans impress in opening week

High school volleyball season began last Thursday, with many local teams playing plenty of matches over the first few days of the season.

Regular season play led into the annual Juanita Boddie Tournament at Hoover High School over the weekend, as Bob Jones won the varsity gold division with a three-set win over Mountain Brook in the final.

Here’s a roundup of some of the area teams and how they performed in the season’s first few days.

Mountain Brook had a strong start to the season last week, going 6-1 to start the season. The Spartans were impressive Thursday, sweeping Spanish Fort 3-0. 

At the Boddie Tournament, the Spartans were impressive. Mountain Brook defeated Buckhorn, Daphne, St. Michael and Montgomery Catholic in pool play.

In the gold bracket, Mountain Brook knocked off Vestavia Hills and Spanish Fort before falling to Bob Jones in three sets in the final.

Homewood sits at 4-2 following the opening weekend of play. The Patriots got off to a strong start Thursday, beating John Carroll 3-1 in the Battle of Lakeshore (25-22, 25-23, 22-25, 25-18). 

Over the weekend at the Boddie Tournament, Homewood finished second in pool play after posting wins over Germantown (Tenn.), Auburn and Mary G. Montgomery, with its only loss to Spanish Fort. That finish qualified the Patriots for the gold bracket, where they fell to Montgomery Catholic.

For the week, Mira McCool led the Patriots with 49 kills, 20 digs, 11 aces and 5 blocks. Abby Przybysz added 36 kills, 33 digs, 3 aces and 2 blocks, and Kam Coleman tallied 85 assists, 27 digs, 9 aces, 4 kills and 2 blocks.

John Carroll is off to a 2-1 start to the season following the Battle of Lakeshore against Homewood and a tri-match Friday.

In the loss to Homewood, Meredith Davis posted a pass rating of 2.1, had 11 digs and 4 aces. Mady Kirkpatrick finished with 14 kills and 4 aces, and Marion Haskell had 11 kills and a 0.625 hitting percentage.

On Friday, John Carroll swept a tri-match without dropping a set. The Cavs beat Hueytown (25-7, 25-21, 25-13) and Ramsay (25-12, 25-21, 25-21) in dominant fashion. Against Hueytown, Ella Hale had 8 kills and 5 digs. Kaitlin Gilchrist added 5 kills and a pair of blocks, while Haskell finished with 7 kills. In the Ramsay match, Kirkpatrick had 14 kills, hit at a 0.5 percentage and had 4 aces. Izzy Marino finished with 22 assists and 6 aces on the day. Haskell also added 8 kills and a pair of blocks.

Hoover has already played 10 matches, sitting with a 7-3 mark so far. 

On opening night, the Bucs defeated James Clemens and Daphne, each in three sets. In the win over James Clemens (25-22, 13-25, 15-12), Hoover had a strong defensive match with Kendyl Mitchell posting 13 digs and Olivia Guenster adding 11 digs. The Bucs then took down Daphne (23-25, 25-23, 15-13) in a tight match. Guenster led the way with 15 digs in that one, with Mitchell posting 12 digs. Kayla Terrell and Sydnie Broom had 8 blocks. 

At the Boddie Tournament, Hoover defeated Athens, Southside, Priceville, Oak Mountain and Lawrence County. They suffered pool play losses to Fairhope (2-1) and Jasper (2-0) and dropped a 2-0 decision to Buckhorn in the silver bracket final.

For the week, Mitchell posted 68 digs, 60 kills 5 blocks and 7 aces. Guenster had 130 digs and 14 aces. Addison Bentley went for 58 digs, 11 aces and 83 assists, and Madi Lopez had 41 digs, 4 aces, and 70 assists.

Spain Park fell in its opening match to defending Class 7A champion McGill-Toolen and won three of five at the Boddie Tournament, sitting with a 3-3 record now.

At the tournament, the Jags beat Gulf Shores, Fort Payne and Austin, with losses to Montgomery Academy and Vestavia Hills.

For the week, Megan Ingersoll led the offense with 58 kills, 17 digs, 6 digs and 4 blocks. Cailyn Kyes passed well with 100 assists, 11 aces, 10 digs and 5 kills. Reagan Gilbert had 28 kills, 11 aces and 19 digs, while Alexa Benda added 18 kills and 9 blocks.

Oak Mountain fought to a 3-4 record through the first weekend. On opening night, the Eagles let a two-set lead slip away against defending Class 6A champion Bayside Academy, which won 3-2. In the Boddie Tournament, Oak Mountain beat Baker, Northridge and Hewitt-Trussville, with losses to James Clemens, Brandon (Miss.) and Hoover.

For the week, Lauren Schuessler finished with 6 aces, 60 kills (0.279 hitting percentage), 1 block, 34 assists and 30 digs. Mabrey Whitehead had 12 aces (reaching 100 career aces), 2.1 passing average, 30 kills (0.205 hitting percentage), 1 block, 4 assists and 40 digs.

Chelsea is 3-3 overall after a week of action. The Hornets fell to Thompson to begin the season last Thursday, before going 3-2 at the Boddie Tournament. Chelsea defeated Shades Valley, Orange Beach and Columbus (Ga.) in pool play, losing only to Bob Jones, last year’s 7A runner-up. They then advanced to the gold bracket and fell to last year’s 6A runner-up, Spanish Fort.

Lauren Buchanan had 9 aces, 48 kills, 6 assists, 23 digs and 4 blocks to lead the way. Kaleigh Hall contributed 12 blocks, 21 kills and an ace. MK Dojonovic posted 13 aces, 2 kills, 35 assists and 28 digs.

Briarwood had a positive opening week of play, finishing with a 4-3 record. On opening night, the Lions defeated Altamont and Calera in a tri-match. At the Boddie Tournament over the weekend, Briarwood beat St. John Paul II and Lawrence County, suffering losses to St. Paul’s, Northwest Rankin (Miss.) and Baylor (Tenn.).

Stella Helms contributed 13 aces, 26 kills, 37 digs and 2 blocks. Julie Roberts finished with 5 aces, 24 kills, 28 digs and a pair of blocks. Colleen Lehane had 10 aces, a kill, 27 digs and 54 assists on the week.

Vestavia Hills had a busy first few days, finishing the first week with a 5-3 record. On opening night, the Rebels fell to Pelham and defeated St. Paul’s, both matches decided in two sets. At the Boddie Tournament, the Rebels defeated McAdory, Albertville and Hartselle by 2-0 scores in pool play, only falling to McGill-Toolen. In bracket play, the Rebels swept Spain Park in two sets before falling to Mountain Brook in three sets.

“We got our first taste of a little adversity on opening weekend and, all things considered, I thought we handled it well,” Vestavia Hills head coach Ashley Hardee said. “One of our setters was out, so we tried a couple different lineups. We were still able to make it into the gold bracket and we advanced after beating Spain Park. We were competitive and composed throughout the tournament and that was good to see this early in the season.”