HATTIESBURG – Vancleave flashed its skill Tuesday night in the second round of the Class II playoffs, as it took down Hattiesburg in straight sets (25-12, 25-13, 25-20) to advance to the semifinals at Mississippi State Thursday.
The Lady Tigers’ season comes to an end with an 18-6 overall record.
“It’s definitely unfortunate that we came up on the short end of the stick, but at the end of the day, Vancleave was a very good team,” Hattiesburg coach Lauren Smith said.
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The Lady Bulldogs led from start to finish in the opening set, cruising to the 25-12 win. Hattiesburg had 12 errors, and Vancleave recorded eight kills and fives aces in the process. A pair of 4-0 runs built a 13-7 lead, then a quick 7-0 run later in the set put Hattiesburg away.
“They’re very good,” Smith said. “They capitalized on our errors and our mistakes, and we just never really could get it going tonight.”
Hattiesburg jumped up 4-1 early in the second set, but it didn’t take long for Vancleave to get on a run. With Sydney Salter serving, the Lady Bulldogs ripped off 11 straight points to take a commanding 12-4 lead.
Salter had seven aces in the set, which included five during that run and two more later in the set. Her final two aces came on the 24th and 25th points, too.
“They’re very well coached team and very skilled,” Smith said. “Like I said, we had a few errors here or there and we could never get it going tonight.”
After the second-set loss, Smith took her team into the locker during the two and a half minute break to get her message across to her team. Since it was loud in the arena, she wanted to convey her message without having to yell at her players, Smith said after the match.
“I brought them in and I said, ‘Ladies, we’re not here for nothing and it’s not time to lay down now. We’ve worked too hard all season long to lay down now. If you go out there with the same intensity that you have in this locker room, we can beat them in five sets,’” Smith said. “I just reinforced believing in themselves, staying humble on the court and everybody had to pour everything they had in that final set.”
With the third set tied at 2, Vancleave used a 6-0 run to push ahead quickly. Hattiesburg battled back, though, using two 3-0 runs and a 4-0 run to tie the game 14-14. The game was tied again at 18 and 19-all, but a quick 4-0 run by the Lady Bulldogs created separation from Hattiesburg.
Vancleave’s Sierra Buxton had three straight kills during that run late in the third, then added another to bring the Lady Bulldogs to a match-point. A return-error on the next serve ended the night for Hattiesburg.
Vancleave had 31 kills in the match compared to Hattiesburg’s 14, and the Lady Bulldogs were led by Payton McKerchie and Buxton’s 10 kills apiece. Salter also had three aces and Buxton added two. Salter had a game-high eight aces.
Hattiesburg’s Arei Redd recorded five kills to lead the Lady Tigers’ attack, and Kendyl Terrell added four kills herself.
“We couldn’t get our bump-set-kill game going very well, and Vancleave, they were very, very strong,” Smith said. “We had a hard time on coverage on some of their kills.”
