Season ends for Houston County Schools in second round

All high schools in Houston County had successful seasons as three of five schools were in the GHSA State Playoffs for their respective regions, including both Houston County and Veterans High in 6-A and Perry High in 4A.

Houston County lost in the first round while both Perry and Veterans would cruise through the first round and were chosen to host the second round. Perry would host Trinity Christian and Veterans would host South Effingham.

Although Saturday did not end in their favor, both had admirable seasons. Perry’s season was capped off by winning the area and going undefeated in the region. Veterans’ success was marked by first winning the Area County Tournament and winning Region 1-6A.

Trinity Christian eliminates Perry in Three Straight:

Perry’s day did not start off well as they fell behind 9-3 early and could not overcome the deficit which continued in the second and third set. Perry would lose the match by scores of 25-9, 25-9, and 25-10.

Trinity Christian was led by strong serving placement and dominant control of the front row with numerous blocks against Lady Panther attempts.

Perry was not able to string any successful serves in a row; once they would side out Trinity, a service error or the strengths of the opponent would get the side out back.

The most points obtained by Perry were three points in a row by Emma Smith (14) in the second set but this was the greatest success they had on this day.

In the second, Perry attempted to revamp their offensive strategy, aiming to utilize spikes in the middle. However, Trinity’s Praisley Hayes (5) led in blocks, proving to be a opponent that Lady Panthers could not overcome.

As the third set progressed, Trinity’s dominance began to show, stretching their lead to 16-9. A series of receiving and passing errors by Perry only furthered Trinity’s advantage, pushing the score to 17-9 in Trinity’s favor. Trinity’s Lily Floyd (8) ended the match with a spike in the back middle to end the match and Perry’s state playoffs.

South Effingham ends Lady Warhawks season Three Sets to One:

The Lady Warhawks were able to take control of the first set and appeared promising for the match but would end up dropping the next three sets. Match scores were 25-15, 22-25, 15-25, 22-25.

The highlights to this match were predominantly in the first set for the Lady Warhawks with Mia Verger (5) serving for multiple points in a row and Taylor Lamontagne (6) with sets to hitters and dump sets on two over the net.

Warhawks Nyah Fox (2) and Serenity Jones (14) were able to capitalize on many of the sets with kills. The way the first set was going was looking to be a successful match, but South Effingham was able to battle back.

Second and fourth sets were close with the lead, changing many times and neither team taking control to the end as the final score separation was only by 3 points. Once South Effingham took the second, they continued their roll in the 3rd by winning by 10, much like when the Warhawks took control of the match.

The downside for South Effingham was Riley Stringer (14) with an ankle injury after going up for a block at the net. She would be out the rest of the match.

The Lady Warhawks were able to hold the hitting percentage for the Lady Mustangs to .146 and were successful with 90% of serves and only 8 service errors in the match. The Mustangs defense held the Warhawks in check with 85 digs, 31 errors and only 9 serve receive errors; These successes allowed the Lady Mustangs to take victory in the match.

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