PREP VOLLEYBALL: Local teams compete in weekend tourneys

By TIM GAYLE

Catholic and Trinity volleyball went on the road to tournaments this weekend and earned a pair of tournament titles, with Catholic winning in Auburn and Trinity winning in Tuscaloosa after reaching the finals with a semifinal win over area rival Prattville Christian Academy.

The Knights participated in Auburn High’s First...Serve Tournament, finishing second in pool play before winning three matches in bracket play. Catholic defeated Beauregard 2-0 and Troup County (Ga.) 2-0 in pool play while losing to Brookstone (Ga.) 2-1.

Catholic bounced back to beat Harris County (Ga.) 2-0 to earn a rematch with Brookstone, beating the Columbus school 2-1 to advance to the finals. Catholic defeated Auburn 2-0 in the finals, just two days after beating the Tigers in a regular-season match in Montgomery.

Catholic opened the week with a win over Alabama Christian. For the week, Lennon McAnnally had 70 kills, five blocks, nine aces, 56 passes and 18 digs, while Allyse Rudolph had 56 kills, six blocks, 14 aces, 96 passes and 50 digs, Julienne Pharrams had 44 kills and 14 blocks and Harper Howell had 39 kills and 19 blocks.

Libero Mally Barranco had 76 digs, 98 passes, 12 aces and 14 assists, while setter Audrey Trant had 108 assists, 37 digs, five aces and a kill and setter Maria Schwarz had 84 assists, eight digs, four blocks and six kills. Sophia Taylor had 31 digs, 44 passes and 14 aces and Kathryn Reardon had 11 kills, eight blocks and five digs.

Catholic (25-5) begins area play this week, traveling to Prattville Christian Academy on Tuesday and Trinity on Thursday. 

Like Catholic, Trinity lost in pool play but avenged the loss in bracket play. The Wildcats defeated Cordova (25-9, 25-9) and Hamilton (25-8, 25-16) in pool play but lost to the host school (25-21, 19-25, 14-16) in Saturday’s Northridge Jaguar Invitational.  

In bracket play, the Wildcats defeated Jeff Davis (25-14, 25-13), Westminster Christian (25-10, 25-16) and Prattville Christian (25-11, 25-23) to reach the championship match.

Trinity won the championship, dropping the first set 23-25 before rebounding to win the next two, 25-21 and 17-15. 

“It was a long day of volleyball, especially the day after our homecoming football game, but I was so proud of the girls,” Trinity coach Sarah Dubberley said. “Every time we step on the court we are working to get better. Our focus to improve on Saturday was mental toughness and pushing through adversity and fatigue. I think we definitely made big strides in those areas. Both times we played Northridge were a battle. That is a very talented, well-coached team. Both sides of the net were working so hard and it was really good volleyball, which is always fun.”

Reese Patterson had 45 kills and Emma Moody had 41 kills as the Wildcats had a combined 176 kills and hit 313 percent. Defensively, Isabel Hill and Mary Alice Sasser both passed a 2.4 in serve receive as Hill had 92 digs in middle back and Gray Brendle and Ella Grace Lowe combined for 59 digs from left back. Setter Addison Cherry contributed 397 assists, 14 kills and 29 digs. 

Trinity (18-3) will face Catholic at home on Thursday in a huge area match. 

Prattville Christian also participated in the Jaguar Invitational, going undefeated in pool play and advancing to the semifinals before losing to Trinity. In pool play, the Panthers defeated Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa (25-17, 25-7), Jeff Davis (25-12, 25-11) and Lamar County (25-17, 25-19) before opening bracket play with wins over Hamilton (25-12, 25-11) and South Lamar (25-15, 25-14) before losing to Trinity.

Jamie Johnson had 50 assists, five blocks, 10 digs, 15 kills and eight aces, while setter Ella Jane Connell had 65 assists, 22 digs, five kills and seven aces. Naomi Taake had three blocks, 18 digs, 13 kills, an assist and four aces, Hannah Jones had 18 blocks, 59 kills, 10 digs and eight aces, Coco Thomas had 12 blocks, 27 kills and a pair of digs and Avery Rogers had 42 digs, an assist, and four aces.

Sally Swindall had eight kills and a dig, Emma Cate Carter had six kills and a pair of digs, Sydney Lee had six digs and two aces, Natalee Wheeler had four digs, an assist and an ace, Baylee Rogers had seven digs and five assists and Laura Beth NeSmith had a dig and two kills.

Hannah Jones and Avery Rogers were named to the all-tournament team.