Sandy Creek volleyball team nets second straight state title

By Jacob Renie
Sandy Creek Class of 2013

The Lady Patriots’ Volleyball team are state champs for the second year in a row.

Sandy Creek played region rival Columbus in the state championship Saturday, November 3 where the Patriots proved to be the stronger team, winning three sets to Columbus’ one. This was the fourth time these two teams have competed in the last month with Creek claiming victory each time.

“I think it was a very exciting match to be a part of,” said Coach Collins. “I felt proud to come out on top.”

The Lady Patriots took a quick two-set lead winning 25-17 and 25-23 respectively. After a brief intermission the two teams went back at it with Columbus taking the third set, 25-16.

As the fourth set began both teams were running on emotion as their training kicked in. It was a hard fought battle with both teams rallying and taking the lead at different points during the set. They tied at 23 points and then fought neck and neck until Columbus misread a bump and Sandy Creek was awarded the victory. The score stood Sandy Creek: 27, Columbus: 25.

“I just think that the girls never gave up,” Collins said. “We lost one set and fell behind a few times, but in spite of that we fought back.”

Last year Sandy Creek won in three sets against St. Pius and might have done so again against Columbus if not for senior Tori Sellers’s knee injury early in the match. After successfully completing an attack Sellers landed wrong and badly banged up her left knee. She already had three kills before this occurred. The official report on the extent of her injury has yet to come out.

Junior Madison Farr came in for Sellers and performed well with three kills and two aces. But it was senior Allie Davenport who shined for the Patriots that night. With over 21 kills, 11 digs, and two aces, she was a key part to Sandy Creek’s attack. Freshman Alexis Broadwater led the team in assists with 37; she also had seven kills and two aces. Junior Sydney Wilson had ten kills and senior Alisha Erves had six kills and two blocks. Libero Annie FitzGerald also led a strong defense with over 12 digs on the night.

“I thought we had excellent season,” said Collins. “We talked about how few teams have the chance to win back-to-back state titles and we accomplished what we set out to do. We reached the goal of winning another state championship.”