The
Bulldogs capped an unbeaten season against league foes defeating
Lakeside-DeKalb 3-0 in the championship match to capture the area title
at Tucker High School.
It
was the first area crown since the 2010 and 2011 teams won consecutive
Area 8-AAAA crowns and it was also the first time the Conyers school has
won a league title in Class AAAAAA as the 2012 and 2013 teams were
runners-up. Rockdale will host Area 8 No. 4 Parkview in the first round
of the state tournament Thursday.
“It’s
big for us to go in and finish this out,” Rockdale coach Stephen
Sansing said. “The girls have had a really good season. I was happy for
them.”
Rockdale jumped out to big leads and never were truly threatened in the first two sets, winning 25-10 each time.
An
11-1 run turned a 3-2 deficit into a 13-4 lead in the first set, and
Lakeside never got closer than seven points the rest of the way. In set
two, Lakeside tied things at 5-5 on a block-kill by Tyja Traore, but it
was all Rockdale after that as Nazzerine Waldon’s kill got the Bulldogs
started on a 12-1 spurt and it was 17-6. Lakeside could only get as
close as 17-8 on Kyle Schultz’s kill.
The
third set was the tightest of the three and Lakeside built its largest
lead of the match at 10-6 after Hannah Christianson used a short service
game to pick up four consecutive aces and cap a 6-0 run. Lakeside still
led 15-14 after Majesti Bass’ service error, but after a Lakeside error
and Chloe Brown’s kill on one of Shivon Gray’s 24 match assists,
Rockdale never trailed again and hung on for a 25-20 victory.
The
Bulldogs got the all-important 2-0 win over Lakeside in the winner’s
bracket final, which clinched a berth in the championship match and
secured at least one home match in the state tournament. Lakeside
dropped down to the loser’s bracket and defeated Lovejoy 2-0 to reach
the final.
After
a back-and-forth first set in which Rockdale held a slim, 16-12
advantage after Lakeside’s Raven Smith had a pair of kills, Bass, a
University of Georgia commitment, secured two kills and two aces down
the stretch as Rockdale finished off a 25-15 victory.
The
second set was one of Rockdale’s best of the season. Led by Gabby
Church, who had three early aces (to go along with her four aces from
the first set), Bass’ five kills and Waldon’s four kills, Rockdale
jumped out to a 17-4 cushion and cruised to a 25-14 win.
“We
served well, we were hitting well (and) I thought we found a bit of a
weakness in their service receive,” said Sansing. “Gabby Church served
especially well, she got us off to a good start in both games.”
The
top seed Bulldogs started the day with 25-18 and 25-16 wins over
Lovejoy. The first set was tied at 16-16 before Bass re-entered the
match and things turned quickly for the Bulldogs. Bass had four kills
and an ace over the final stages and Brown finished the 9-2 set-ending
run with a pair of kills. Lovejoy got as close as 13-8 in the second set
before Rockdale used a 10-2 spirt to get some distance.
Both Newton and Alcovy dropped 2-0 matches to start the tournament.
Newton
led early on against Tucker, going up 7-5 on an error by the host
Tigers. Thanks to a pair of kills by Nitaira Wilkes, Tucker went on an
8-0 run and led 13-7. It was just a 15-12 set before Tucker pulled away,
getting two aces from Wilkes and one each from Emily Chiok and Sydney
Csukas to pick up a 25-15 victory.
The
Rams closed to within 11-7 in the second set before Tucker finished the
match with a strong service game. The Tigers got six aces out of Wilkes
and four from Lucy Beck and turned that slim, four-point lead into a
25-9 win.
Lovejoy
had no problem with Alcovy, winning 25-11 in each set. Mariah Gray was
particularly strong for the Clayton County school in the match-clinching
second set, securing five kills down the stretch after Alcovy had
pulled to within 13-7 on an ace by Aaliyah Goode.
The
Covington rivals were eliminated in the loser’s bracket. Alcovy trailed
by three points in set one and led 11-10 midway through the second, but
faded each time. Led by a pair of aces from Chiok, Tucker ended the
opener on a 12-3 run and won 25-13, then in the second used a 12-0 spurt
to pull away and put an end to Alcovy’s season with a 25-12 victory.
Despite
winning the first set 25-22 and trailing in the second just 19-16,
Newton dropped a 2-1 match to Lovejoy. Set two ended with Tehanna Russel
picking up the final two of Lovejoy’s seven aces in a 25-16 win. The
third set was more of the same in the service game as Lovejoy erased a
14-13 deficit with four quick points - Sierra Sillmon had an ace - and
the final six points were Russel aces in a 25-17 contest.
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