JEFFERSON locked down a no. 1 seed at the area tournament as it inches closer to the 30-win mark for the second-straight year.
The Dragons beat Tallulah Falls (25-10, 25-14) in a sub-area match Tuesday as well as Lakeview Academy (25-17, 25-19) and Morgan County (25-21, 25-10).
“We played really well at times tonight with strong serving and some streaky hitting,” coach Mike Paul said.
The victories move Jefferson to 26-7 overall and 5-0 in sub-area play. Jefferson won a school-record 34 matches last year. The Dragons’ three wins Tuesday also gave Jefferson’s seniors 100 wins for their careers. The win over Tallulah Falls also assured the Dragons a no. 1 seed out of the sub-area in next week’s 8-AA/A tournament.
Leading Jefferson to the victories were Cassie Metcalf (eight aces, five kills, two assists), Amanda Daniel (seven aces, 12 kills, 30 assists), Taylor Cramsey (nine aces, 20 kills, two assists, three blocks),Eden Starnes (three aces, six kills), Sarah Wood (nine kills, three assists) and Savanna Holland (eight aces, six assists).
Prior to Tuesday’s action, Jefferson went 5-2 in its weekend trip to the Ampest Spikefest in Conyers, losing to a 20-3 Greenbrier team in the tournament semifinals 23-25, 26-24, 9-15).
“The semifinal match was outstanding and was a true battle between two very good teams,” Jefferson coach Mike Paul said.
Paul added that his Dragons competed hard all weekend with exceptional play from every player on the roster.
“You can’t go to a tournament like this and be successful without a solid team top to bottom.”
Jefferson opened in pool play by beating Union Grove (25-18, 25-8), Rockdale County (25-13, 25-10) and Lakeside (25-14, 25-14) and losing to Savannah Country Day (25-21, 16-25, 8-15). The Dragons then won their cross-pool playoff match with Loganville (25-14, 25-14).That victory advanced Jefferson into the gold bracket, where it beat Shaw (25-12, 25-15) before losing to Greenbrier in the semifinals.
Tournament leaders for the Dragons were Cassie Metcalf (14 aces, 36 kills, seven digs), Amanda Daniel (five aces, 26 kills, 119 assists, three blocks, six digs), Taylor Cramsey (two aces, 48 kills, six blocks), Eden Starnes (10 aces, 18 kills, one block, five digs), Sarah Wood (nine aces, 17 kills, 11 assists), Savanna Holland (nine aces, 14 kills), Savannah Bogue (two aces, two digs) and Hannah Murphy (one ace, two kills) and Gianna Fuller (three kills).
Prior to the tournament, Jefferson notched a pair of road wins in a Thursday double header over Rabun County, 25-9, 25-10 and 25-15, 25-18.
The first match counted as a sub-area match moving Jefferson to 4-0 in Area 8-AA/A play.
The Dragons played many of their reserves in the second match.
Statistical leaders for the night were Cassie Metcalf (one ace, five kills, two digs), Amanda Daniel (seven aces, one kill, 19 assists), Taylor Cramsey (one ace, nine kills, one block), Eden Starnes (three aces, four kills), Sarah Wood (oner ace, 10 kills, seven assists, one block), Savanna Holland (seven kills), Savannah Bogue (three aces), Amanda Burgamy (two kills), Hannah Murphy (two aces, two kills, five assists), Amanda Flowers (four kills) and Gianna Fuller (three aces, two kills, three assists).
