By Alec Etheredge

Special to the Advertiser

COLUMBIANA — While Chilton County controlled much of the first two sets of a first-round area tournament match with Marbury, the Tigers were unable to close out either as the Bulldogs went on to pull off the sweep on Tuesday, Oct. 22, to advance to Super Regionals and end Chilton’s season.

In a thrilling first set, Marbury looked like the better team from the start, but Chilton County made a strong comeback that saw the Tigers take a late lead.

After falling behind 5-1 in the early going, the Tigers were able to come back to tie the set at 5-5 before it became a back-and-forth affair. Chilton County eventually capped off a 9-3 run when it took a 10-8 lead and extended that run to 13-6 at one point leading to a 14-11 advantage.

Marbury eventually came back to tie the set at 18-18 and from that point forward, the lead for either team was never larger than two the rest of the way.

 After taking a 22-20 lead, Chilton County was in good shape, just three points from an opening-set victory, but the Bulldogs answered with a 4-1 run to storm in front 24-23.

The Tigers actually battled off match point and went on to take a 25-24 lead with a 2-0 run of their own that saw them have a match point.

Just as Chilton County had done, Marbury came right back with another run, but added one more point than the Tigers, posting a 3-0 run down 25-24 to pull off a 27-25 set win.

That set the pace for the second set as well.

In a set the Tigers controlled from the beginning and led throughout, it was Marbury that stole the show in the end.

Chilton County trailed 8-7, but then went on to take the lead shortly after and looked in control leading the set all the way up to 21-17.

That’s when the Bulldogs went on a strong run, eventually cutting the deficit to 21-20.

The Tigers eventually went back up 23-21, but from that point, Marbury won the next four points in a row to close the set out with a 4-0 run and an out-of-nowhere 25-23 comeback win to take a controlling 2-0 lead in the match.

With Chilton County down to possibly its final set of the season and no momentum, you could have seen a slow start in the third set, but the Tigers came out firing in the early going, eventually taking an 8-5 lead.

That’s when Marbury woke up, however, and got back to its winning ways and reeled off a 6-0 run to take an 11-8 lead.

The Bulldogs eventually extended that lead to 20-12 at one point, which made the outcome mere formality.

Chilton County battled back to eventually make it 21-16 and got as close as 24-20, but the Bulldogs didn’t let the set slip away and closed it out with one final point to pull off a 25-20 victory and a 3-0 match sweep.

The Marbury Bulldogs then went on to claim the Class 5A Area 6 tournament with a 3-1 victory against the host Shelby County Wildcats in the championship match, while both teams will now head to Super Regionals.