Playing host to Prince Avenue Christian in a critical area match on Thursday, both the Tallulah Falls School varsity and JV volleyball teams came up clutch with wins. The varsity Lady Indians took care of business against #8-ranked Prince Ave in a 2-1 thriller. Meanwhile, the JV team secured a 2-0 win in a match where both sets were in the balance.
VARSITY
The Lady Indians grabbed an early 1-0 lead with a 25-18 hard-fought first set win. Down 3-1, Addy McCoy was at serve and came up with an ace to help get TFS up 6-3. Kills by Alba Romanos Gracia, Barrett Whitener, and Sarah Jennings, as well as a timely ace by Kitty Rodenas pushed the lead to 8-4 and forced a timeout by Prince Avenue. Whitener dominated in the set, coming up with another two kills, while Sarah Jennings added three to pad the lead to 14-8.
Prince Avenue mounted a comeback attempt, getting within 14-12. Jennings out of the timeout tallied a kill, and Whitener did as well as TFS found itself up 19-12. Whitener had two more kills in the set as TFS secured the 25-18 win.
In the second set, the Lady Indians jumped out to a 7-3 lead, led by Romanos Gracia’s multiple kills. The visitors pulled close to tie the set at 8 apiece, forcing a Tallulah Falls timeout. TFS ended some long volleys with kills by many individuals, including a sharp spike by McCoy to make it 14-11. However, PAC again stormed back to take a 16-14 lead. Out of a TFS timeout, it was Romanos Gracia who came up with a drought-ending kill to help spark the Lady Indians to tie the set at 16. The back-and-forth battle ensued, as the set was tied many times until PAC pulled away for a 25-23 set win to even the match.
The third set, played to 15, saw TFS win 15-5 with dominant play from several players. Jennings and Romanos Gracia had multiple kills in the set, and Whitener and Nancy Fisher came up with key kills, while McCoy had multiple acec. McCoy’s stellar play at serve got the girls out to a 12-4 lead that caused a PAC timeout. TFS had previously jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the set to set the tone. Whitener smashed home the final kill to secure the set and match win.
Prince Avenue Christian came in ranked eighth in the state in 1A Private, and were riding a six-match win streak. PAC becomes the third ranked team this season that TFS has defeated. The Lady Indians are now 19-8 overall and 2-1 in area play.
JV
The JV team had a thrilling straight-sets win over Prince Avenue, securing dramatic 25-23 and 26-24 wins to earn the match.
The Lady Indians opened up the first set in a quick 4-0 hole before crawling back to within 3-6 and finding traction. The comeback began with Chesney Tanksley at serve, as TFS got within 9-13. Ashlyn Yakiewicz had a run at serve as the Lady Indians maintained a close distance, trailing only 18-14. Claire Kelly had a solid streak at the serve line, and several Prince Avenue unforced errors led to a timeout with TFS down 19-18.
Coming out of the timeout, Kelly’s ace tied the set at 19 apiece. Kyndal Anderson then made a stellar dive on a ball, which went over the net for a kill and the 20-19 lead. Sophia Rueda dropped in a nice kill to make it 21-19, and Tanksley had a dig that turned into a kill that tied the match at 23. The Lady Indians then secured the set with a 25-23 win.
The second set saw TFS battle back once again. Trailing 13-10, Elsa Sanchez recorded two aces, the first of which pulled the Lady Indians to within 13-11 and forced a timeout. The second tied the set at 13 each. A 4-0 Prince Avenue run seemed to swing momentum, but multiple aces by Rueda got the girls within a point at 17-16. Eventually, it was knotted up at 23 apiece when Prince Avenue again called for a timeout. With a tied 24-24 set, Sanchez notched back-to-back aces to claim the set and match.
The JV team moves to 15-7 overall and are 2-1 in area play.
SCORES:
TFS Varsity W 2-1 vs Prince Ave: 25-18, 23-25, 15-5
TFS JV W 2-0 vs Prince Ave: 25-23, 26-24
