Gallery by Karen Akers
Shady Spring has clearly been a dominant Class AA volleyball team all season compiling a 34-3-1 record.
That dominance continued Wednesday night when the top-seeded Tigers hosted No. 2 Herbert Hoover in the Region 3, Section 1 championship.
With seniors, Kelsie Dangerfield, Aly Holdren and Peydon Smith playing their final home high school match, the Tigers rolled to a 3-0 win over the Huskies.
“The three of us were just talking about how upset we were that this is our last game on this court, but we feel like we have made a statement over our four years,” Smith said. “It’s very emotional because it’s our senior year and it’s sad to see end, but it has all been worth it.”
Herbert Hoover head coach Anita King knew coming in that it could possibly be a tough night for her team. Battling the Tigers with a full roster was going to be tough challenge. However, the Huskies were not at full strength when the first serve went up.
“We were definitely missing a huge portion of our offensive effort with Brinlee Harris hurt and unable to play,” King said. “We also had a player that stepped up and played outside last night that was sick and unable to play. Three people were playing out of position and that’s huge against a team like (Shady).”
Shady Spring wasted no time taking control at the net behind Smith and junior Meg Williams who helped stake the Tigers to a commanding lead.
Collecting 15 kills in the first set with six coming from Williams and five from Smith, Shady Spring cruised to a 25-11 win.
“Being on your home floor and having your crowd behind you, we don’t normally have that. This year we have been blessed to have a student section which is really special for the seniors,” Shady Spring head coach Kelly Williams said. “The last two years have been tough and to have everybody come out and support us is wonderful.”
Chloe Thompson opened the second set with a blast which was followed by three straight errors from Hoover.
“With everybody that we had on the court, we struggled sometimes with their tempo,” King said.
The early deficit became an avalanche when kills from Williams and Chloe Thompson were jammed between four aces from Camille Testerman.
The Tigers ran off 13 straight points en route to a 25-6 win.
While the Tigers did eventually win the third set, it did not come as easy as the first two.
“I wasn’t worried about the scoring, but I wanted us to come out and take every point serious. (Shady Spring) is a great team. You get better playing a great team as long as you are engaged in skill development,” King said. “We treated it like a skill development session with a couple of key things we wanted to work on. I am really proud of the group and I am happy that we got better this evening.”
With the match tied early, Sydney Shamblin began to find the range helping Hoover take a 7-3 lead. Shady battled back to within two at 11-9, only to see Shamblin spark a 4-0 run with a kill and a block.
The spurt brought a quick timeout from Williams, but there was no panic in the veteran coach.
“The first two sets we came out and we did great. I don’t know where the “blah” comes from, but it does hit us every once in while,” Williams said. “When it does, it seems to be at the worst moments. I pull them aside at those times and ask them what is going on and they say they will start playing, and they do.”
“We tend to do that in our second set, so I don’t know what was up with it being in our third tonight,” Dangerfield said, smiling. “We still played good and came out with a win.”
A back row kill from Williams snapped Hoover’s streak and brought Holdren to the serving line who help Shady run off seven straight points to take the lead.
“All of these years, we have worked so hard to get where we are,” Holdren said. “I feel like this year we have all stepped up and came together with great attitudes. I think that has helped us all play so good. We have been one big family.”
Although Hoover answered the run with two points to tie the set at 17-apiece, it was all Tigers down the stretch in an 8-0 run to seal the match.
“We could have played a little better in that last set, but winning sectionals every year has been great,” Dangerfield said. “I feel like this year has been our prime and it couldn’t have gone much better. We are definitely happy.”
Shady Spring and Herbert Hoover now advance to Saturday’s regional round at Independence High School at 10 a.m. The Tigers will play Westside, while Hoover will battle PikeView.
The winners of each match will earn a berth in the state volleyball tournament which starts on Nov. 12 at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center.
