Gallery by Tina Laney
Heavily favored teams often struggle in the postseason by playing down to their competition or coming out flat.
Ripley was not so fortunate.
Matching up with Class AAA No. 3 ranked Shady Spring in one of the Region 3 co-final battles, the Vikings got the claws from the Tigers inside Dave Wills Gym.
Starting fast and never taking its foot off of the gas pedal, Shady Spring swept its Jackson County guests, 3-0 to advance to the state tournament next week inside the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center.
“They came out ready to go tonight and that is all I can ask,” Shady Spring head coach Brantlea Wood. “That is one thing we talked about at practice yesterday. We wanted to come and play our game and at our speed. Keeping the talk and intensity up. That is what we have to do next week.”
Keyed by a block and a kill from junior middle Alivia Stover, Shady Spring ran out to a 6-1 lead in the opening set. Ripley cut the advantage to four points before the Tigers exploded on a 10-1 run and never was challenged.
A kill from Braylin Lutz stop the run for the Vikings, but after an ace from Delaney Howery, Shady Spring scored five more points for the biggest lead of the set at 23-7.
A winner from Reagan Mann, two kills from sister Rachel Mann and a kill by Baylee Richmond on a Viking overpass were all part of the burst that led to a 25-11 win.
Set two was more of the same early on with the home team taking a 6-1 lead before Ripley started to show some life.
A kill from Lutz and two aces from Howery trimmed the lead back to three points at 11-8, but the Vikings could get no closer.
A winner from Reagan Mann started a 7-0 burst with the Tigers holding a 16-11 lead. A pair of aces from Richmond, a kill Rachel Mann and a block from Stover were all part of the outburst.
Sophomore Allie Fragile recorded the final blow of the set in a 25-12 win.
The young sophomore did her biggest work of the night in the final set with her team up by only three points, 14-11.
After dropping a solid winner, Fragile moved to the back line where she recorded seven service points to break the set open.
Two attacking errors by the Vikings, an ace from Fragile, along with kills from Richmond, Reagan Mann and Brooklyn Dickens keyed the run that led Shady to a 25-16 win.
Another block from Stover was part of that decisive run from Shady who frustrated Ripley all night at the net.
“I feel like we have done better blocking,” Wood said. “There is always room to do better and do more, but we have improved on that aspect a lot.”
The win Thursday night is the sixth straight regional championship for the Tigers and sends Shady Spring back to Charleston for the eighth consecutive year.
“It’s always a good feeling to punch your ticket and go back to states. We have dealt with a lot of injuries and illness, but that just goes to show the ones that we have, have stepped up when they needed to,” Wood said. “It has been a next up mentality. We don’t want to forget who has done what, but it is one of those things that you have to be ready to go when your number is called.”
State tournament times and seeding are expected to be announced Friday.
