By Daniel Evans | Selma Times-Journal

In an up-and-down match that opened Class 6A, Area 6 play Thursday night, Chilton County outlasted Selma 25-11, 17-25, 25-15, 25-21.

After the Saints (7-5) won the second set by taking command early, Chilton County bounced back to win two hard fought, back and forth games to win the match.

“We had a couple of mental breakdowns in crucial points and I think that could have been what determined the match,” said Selma head coach Melissa White.

Chilton closed out the match by scoring the final three points of the fourth set. The final two points came on aces by Anna Mims.

“We learned to finish,” said Chilton County head coach Emily Driver. “We had excellent play and learned to work through little errors.”

The Saints showed their toughness after a blowout loss in the first set.

White told her team she wasn’t going to call a timeout to rescue them and after regrouping between sets, the Saints rolled to a win to tie the match.

“I wanted to see how tough they were,” White said. “Were they going to pick each other or were they just going to stay down? The second game they realized and understood and they played well.We have to just be consistent with what they are doing.”

The third set was close early on, as Chilton led 14-13. The Tigers closed out the set on an 11-2 run to take a 2-1 lead through three.

The final set was 19-14 Chilton, before Selma made one final push. The Saints pulled within 22-21 on a bad serve by the Tigers, but Chilton scored the final three points to put the match out of reach.