In high school sports action this week, New Hope is riding high after its volleyball squad earned a three-set sweep of rival Caledonia on Thursday, and West Lowndes also claimed a victory on the court to halt a series of losses. Similar luck on the diamond with area teams was nowhere to be found Thursday, as both Starkville Academy and Oak Hill Academy suffered district setbacks.
Volleyball
In front of a raucous and supportive home crowd, New Hope’s volleyball squad battled for three sets and etched a clean 3-0 sweep of rival and Region 1-5A foe Caledonia into the win column Thursday.
The victory, which ends a streak of three straight losses, gives a program (8-16, 2-2) in the midst of a bumpy season a new high moment to savor. Head coach Laura Lee Holman said the passion of their team’s fans was evident all throughout the contest and helped fuel the Trojans to their third straight win over the Cavaliers (10-8-1).
“The rivalry – it’s special. That’s for sure,” Holman said. “You could feel it all over the gym (Thursday night), but I think my girls finally were able to put all the pieces together last night. There’s been nights when we’ve had high energy and effort, but our execution may not have been there, or maybe our execution was a little better but maybe we were lacking the (on) the effort and execution side of things.
We’ve had to battle a couple of injuries, and it’s been kind of a roller coaster, and just to kind of see everything come together last night and watching them be able to taste a little bit of that success was really good. I know they needed it – I know their coach needed it for sure.”
New Hope cruised to a 25-16 first-set win to open the match and faced stiffer competition in the second, but still pulled out a 25-21 win. The Cavs brought much more intensity in the third set and fought for a 22-18 lead.
“Caledonia is a very good volleyball team, they run a great program, so I knew that those first two sets kind of seemed like the ball was rolling our way,” Holman said. “We played with a lot of momentum and that type of thing, but I knew Caledonia wasn’t going to go down without a fight.”
The Trojans, though, didn’t waver and powered through for a narrow 26-24 victory to seal the match.
“(I) was really proud of my girls. That’s something that we struggled with, just handling those situations, and last night they handled it really well,” she said. … “It was great to see them play well and watch them handle how things are going their way because sometimes we relax in those moments as well. They got a chance to overcome a lot of those things that have hindered us from being successful.”
The win keeps New Hope in fourth place in the region standings, just behind Caledonia, Pontotoc and front-runner Lafayette. Now, Holman said her team is in position to dictate their own playoff future if they continue to stack district wins.
“We needed that win if we plan on moving up seeding wise,” Holman said. “We have to win every game, but we knew we had to win that one.”
Up next for New Hope is a volleyball tournament at Tupelo today that begins with the Trojans taking on the host school at 9:30 a.m. Then, Caledonia and New Hope square off once more at 11 a.m. before games against Olive Branch at 1:15 p.m. and Mantachie at 3 p.m. Holman said the win over Caledonia could be a turning point in the season that leads to more victories down the road.
“I feel like we’ve been beat up on a little bit this past month, because they have,” Holman said. “They played so hard and just kept coming up short, coming up short, and I think that win (Thursday) night just kind of reiterated that thought that it’s a process. You have to trust the process and stay confident. … I was really, really proud of the mental part last night. I think they really grew up (Thursday) night, and I think that’s going to really help them down the stretch.”
The Cavs’ action in the Tupelo tournament begins at 8:45 a.m. today against Olive Branch, then the team plays New Hope at 11 a.m., Mantachie at 12:30 p.m. and Tupelo at 2 p.m.
In other volleyball action, West Lowndes ended a streak of three straight Region 3-1A losses Thursday with a 3-1 victory at Okolona.
The Panthers (4-6, 2-3) are back on the court at 6 p.m. Tuesday hosting Heritage Academy.
Starkville fell to 1-5 in Region 2-7A contests Thursday in a 3-0 loss at Madison Central.
The Jaguars claimed the first set 25-14, the second set 25-14 and the third set 25-15. The Yellow Jackets look to bounce back at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Clinton.
Columbus dropped a 3-0 loss at district-leading Lafayette on Thursday to fall to 2-10 overall and 1-3 in region games.
The Falcons play next at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Caledonia.
East Rankin Academy softball 12, Starkville Academy 0
The Patriots rattled off nine hits and nine RBI on offense and held the Volunteers scoreless at the plate to hand Starkville Academy its only shutout of the year in a District 2-4A loss.
East Rankin scored two runs in the first inning, four in the third and six more in the fourth as it got a two-hit and eight-strikeout performance from pitcher Holly Jackson in the circle. Molly Ingram and Ella Kate Heflin were the two Vols to put a ball in play with one single each.
Ingram also pitched the majority of the four innings and gave up nine hits, seven earned runs and walked six batters. She also struck out two Patriots. Azleigh Slivka came in for relief and got the final out for the Vols, but walked two batters.
SA (9-4, 2-2) has an opportunity to get back at the Patriots at 6 p.m. Tuesday when East Rankin comes to Starkville for a rematch.
Leake Academy 3, Oak Hill Academy 2
The Rebels’ Alivia Gill swung at the first pitch she saw to open the game and drove the ball deep into left field for a first-inning solo home run that proved to be the difference in a narrow District 2-3A win over the visiting Raiders.
Gill’s homer kept the advantage with Leake Academy until the fifth inning, where back-to-back RBI singles by Sally Rhea Chaney and Mollie Caroline Brand pulled Oak Hill ahead 2-1. Leake responded by scoring two runs of its own in the bottom of the fifth – thanks to a fielding error, a passed ball and singles by Kylee Boykin and Lily Mcdonald – to keep the lead for good.
Chaney led the team with two hits, and Brand, Kaelyn Pennington and Parker Higginbotham each produced one hit.
In the circle, Pennington gave up four hits, one earned run, walked two and struck out one batter. The Raiders found trouble in hitting off of Leake’s Boykin, who fanned 10 Raiders and walked two.
Oak Hill (11-7, 5-3), which has three games left in the regular season, hosts Tri-County Academy at 6:30 p.m. Monday in another district showdown.
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