Mustangs finish second in tournament
Published 4:46 pm Tuesday, September 8, 2015
By Brandon Sumrall| Special to the Advertiser
For the second consecutive year, the Isabella’s varsity volleyball team was forced to settle for second place in their Invitational Tournament thanks to a defeat at the hands of the LAMP Golden Tigers.
The Mustangs got the day started with wins over Hale County (25-10, 25-11) and Sweet Water (25-6, 25-10) to go into a meeting with the Marbury Bulldogs with a 2-0 record in the tournament.
At the net: Isabella’s Kinley Tuttle (No. 7) tries to get the ball past LAMP’s Haley Hughes during the tournament championship game. (Photo by Brandon Sumrall)
The Bulldogs jumped out to an early 3-0 lead over the Mustangs, but with Hailey Underwood handling the serving for Isabella, the Mustangs picked up four straight points to take a 4-3 lead.
With a 13-7 lead, Sophia Underwood led the Mustangs to a 17-7 lead as server, and Isabella went on to a 25-12 win that was capped on a set-closing kill by Brianna Tyler.
Set 2 would be all Mustangs as Hailey Underwood led Isabella on a 12-point run, thanks to six aces, that would give the Mustangs a 17-2 lead. The Bulldogs battled back to close the gap, but a 25-10 win set up a championship showdown with the Golden Tigers.
An ace by Tyler and a block by Synia Chattman gave the Mustangs an early 2-0 lead, a lead that they would build on behind the serving of Caley Booth to take an 8-3 lead over the Golden Tigers.
LAMP would not lay down, and with Alexis Owens serving, tied the game at 12-all. Later, with the game tied at 13, LAMP reeled off five straight points behind the serving of Haley Hughes.
With a 24-17 lead, a ball hit out of bounds by the Mustangs gave the Golden Tigers a 25-17 win in Set 1.
The Mustangs again jumped out to an early lead behind Tyler, and thanks to three aces by Carmelina Fjeldstad, took an 8-3 lead. Booth later helped give Isabella an eight-point lead, 12-4.
With Jessica Norris serving for the Golden Tigers, six straight points for LAMP cut the Mustangs’ lead to two, 12-10.
On the defensive: Isabella’s Synia Chattman blocks a shot. (Photo by Pam Marcus)
Kasey Grimes led the Mustangs to three straight points to push the lead back to five, but after a couple of exchanges by both teams, a four-point run by LAMP brought the score to 17-15.
Tyler led the Mustangs on a four-point run to bring the score to 21-15, but with a 22-18 Isabella lead, the Golden Tigers handed over serving duties to Hannah Hughes, who brought the Golden Tigers roaring back on six straight to tie the game at 20-all.
The two teams went back-and-forth until back-to-back points by the Mustangs gave them a 25-23 win in Set 2.
With the match and tournament title on the line, both teams had early runs in the third and final set.
Meyer helped the Golden Tigers to a 4-0 lead, but the serving of Hailey Underwood allowed Isabella to tie the game at 4-all.
The tie wouldn’t last long as Hughes led another LAMP run to open up an 8-4 lead.
An ace by Sophia Underwood knotted the game at 11-all, and with a score of 12-all, a serve from Tyler produced a 13-12 lead for Isabella, but three straight scores by the Golden Tigers gave LAMP a 15-13 win in the set along with the title of tournament champion.
Hailey Underwood led the Mustangs on the day with 14 kills, 12 aces, 23 assists and 17 digs.
Chattman had 32 kills and 16 blocks, while Sophia Underwood added five kills and 24 digs for the Mustangs.
