Bears capture region title

The Region 1 6-AAAAAA was hosted by Houston County High School, which included three of the county high schools (Northside, Veterans, Houston County). Veterans is the newcomer to the region as they jumped to 6-AAAAAA due to school attendance numbers. The other teams in the region were Thomas County Central, Tift County and Lee County. The seeding order of the tournament was based on two previous playdates at Veterans and Northside High schools.

The first matches of the day were the fourth and fifth seed (Northside and Tift County) and the third and sixth seed (Veterans and Thomas County Central (TCC)). Northside had battled Tift in three sets concluding with Tift capturing the victory, which would lead them to face the #1 seed Houston County. Veterans started their day taking on TCC, who coasted through this match winning in two sets 25-15 and 25-17.

In the next match, the Warhawks faced off against Lee County in a battle to decide who would play in the region championship. This match went the entire three sets with Lee County winning the first set in close match 25-22. The Warhawks battled back in the second set and won decisively with a score of 25-12 to even the match to one set apiece.

In the third set Lee County took control to punch their ticket to the championship 15-6. This meant Veterans would face Tift for third place. The match for third was competitive and went the entire three sets. The first set was back and forth throughout until the last two points as Veterans captured the victory in extra points at 26-24. The second set was just as close with Tift capturing both sets 25-19 and 15-12. Veterans player Nyah had 13 aces and 20 kills; but Taylor had 11 aces, 15 kills and added 24 digs; Abigail led in assists with 39 and Mia led with 29 digs in all of their matches today. Based on the results, the following team’s seasons have come to a close: Thomas County Central and Northside. Although Northside’s season has ended the team had showed vast improvements throughout the season taking many teams the distance in matches this season. Tift County will face the Region 2 runner-up, and Veterans will travel to the Region 2 championships in the GHSA state playoffs.

The championship game was set between Lee County and Houston County. Although Lee County had to battle to take their place in the match HOCO had a much easier route as they took on Tift and won in two sets. HOCO struggled in the first set as the team committed many service and hitting errors but rallied to win 25-21. The second set was much easier as they punched their ticket to the region championship with a 25-15 set victory. The championship match format was a best of five instead of the traditional best of three matches. Although this meant the champion would have to win three of the sets, HOCO was not frazzled and went undefeated in all the sets today. HOCO took the momentum from the Tift County victory and captured the first two sets with scores of 25-13 and 25-11.

With their backs against the wall, Lee County would have to win to force additional sets. Lee County was able to hang with the Lady Bears but was not able to steal the set and lost the set and match by the score of 25-18. Statistic leaders for Lee County against HOCO were Kinsley Timmons with 8 kills and setter Callie Crosson had 18 assists.

Although there was a lot of action that morning, it was about recognizing some of the outstanding performance of many players throughout the season. The Region named their honorable mention, first and second teams.

Honorable Mention: Libero: Madison Cole (#28-Lee); Setter: Gabby Tate (#3-Northside); OH: Savannah Singleton (#4-Lee), Raegin Walker (#13-Tift); RH: Lexi Lane (#9-Tift); MB: Brooke Langevine (#14-HOCO); MB: Kaylee Jones (#10-Veterans); DS/L: Mia Verger (#10-Veterans).

Second Team: Setters: Harley Mitchell (#10-HOCO) & Ava Thompson (#12-Tift); MH: Harlee Blasche (#28-HOCO) & Kinsley Timmons (#5-Lee); OH: Nyah Fox (#15-Veterans).

First Team: Libro: Jessa Dickerson (#7-HOCO); Setter: Callie Crosson (#19-Lee); MH: Jalaya Miller (#21-Tift); OH: De’Nyla Harlan (#2-HOCO), Kalyn Taczy (#7-Lee), Taylor Lamontagne (#6-Veterans).

Player of the year: Outside Hitter, Lauren Desiltes #9, Houston County High.

Coach of the year: Maria Huelsman, Houston County High.

Next up for the top four teams in the region are the GHSA playoffs. Both Lee County and HOCO will host the first round, and Tift County and Veterans will be on the road. All of the teams will be matched up against Region 2.

Veterans will travel to Champion.

Tift County will travel to Runner-up.

Lee County is hosting the 3rd Place team.

Houston County is hosting the 4th Place team.

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