It had been a long layoff since the Lady Indians had taken the court, but #6-ranked TFS played four matches at Gainesville on Saturday. The girls dropped the first two matches before coming back to win the final two and claim the Silver Bracket Championship.
The Lady Indians first lost to #2-ranked Athens Academy (Class 2A) in straight sets, falling 12-25, 12-25 in the first pool game. The girls then played #3-ranked Winder-Barrow (Class 5A), falling 17-25, 18-25.
“We looked pretty rough in the first one,” says coach Matt Heyl “Had some good moments against Winder, but just couldn’t string together enough good moments.”
Once out of pool play, the Lady Indians entered the Silver Bracket and opened play against Monroe Area. TFS won 25-13, 25-11 to advance.
“After the two early matches we woke up quite a bit,” adds Heyl. “We just got better with every match, which was good to see. Serving, passing, hitting, and setting started clicking.”
The Lady Indians polished off the Saturday tournament with a 25-16, 25-23 big win over Flowery Branch.
“First set against FB was probably one of the top three sets we played all year,” adds Heyl. “We beat a good team. In the second set, we showed some grit. We made some errors on some pretty easy plays, but about halfway through we cleaned it up. We were down about 17-11 and came back.”
Plenty of players contributed to the success for Tallulah Falls.
“Sarah [Jennings] had a solid day all around, and so did Addy [McCoy],” states Heyl. “Addy has been the hottest hitter for the last six matches. Elsa [Sanchez] played really well in the last ten points of the FB match to really help us out. Overall it was pretty encouraging. Got a lot of team bonding to do and trust to build. Sarah did a great job leading vocally today as well.”
The Lady Indians are now 20-10 overall and remain 5-1 in region play. The team next plays Monday at Elbert County against the host school and Prince Avenue Christian in a big region tri-match.
MATCH SCORES:
TFS L 0-2 vs Athens Academy: 12-25, 12-25
TFS L 0-2 vs Winder-Barrow: 17-25, 18-25
TFS W 2-0 vs Monroe Area: 25-13, 25-11
TFS W 2-0 vs Flowery Branch: 25-16, 25-23
