Volleyball: East Jackson volleyball team notches another win

The Eagles (6-12, 1-3) beat the Bulldoggs on the strength of their serving, led by Haley Simmons.

“Fortunately, our serving made up for a lot of mistakes,” said coach Tim Thomas, whose team moves on to face Jefferson and Johnson Thursday at home. “We scored 10 aces in this match (five from Simmons) but even beyond that our serves kept them off balance the entire time, and they didn't get a lot of chances to set up their offense, particularly in the second set.”

East Jackson’s win over Winder-Barrow came after losing to host Habersham Central that same night. The Eagles, who had beaten the Raiders in a thrilling three-set match earlier this year, fell 19-25, 25-22, 7-25 in what Thomas said was another exciting standoff for two sets.

“(It was a) great first two sets between two very evenly matched teams,” he said. “What they had in hitting we made up for in serving. Their middle hitter made a couple of really big plays early in the third, and somewhere along the way our girls just checked out mentally. But those first two sets were really exciting to watch.”

Statistical leaders for both matchers were Madison Mealor (eight kills, four aces), Rosie Melendez (seven aces, six digs), Simmons (six aces), Rebekah Poponi (11 digs) and Jill Edmondson (eight assists).