CULLMAN – Victory was very satisfying for the St. Bernard Prep School Lady Saints Tuesday evening.
Playing at the Fazi-Richard Athletic Center for the first time on the season, the Lady Saints put together a solid performance to defeat Whitesburg Christian from Huntsville three games to one.
It was the first win of the season for the squad and new coach Regina Willoughby. The Lady Saints avenged a tough defeat to the Lady Warriors when they fell to them in Huntsville in a 5-game set on Aug. 30.
Willoughby’s group prevailed by scores of 25-19, 23-25, 26-24 and 25-16. The match lasted an hour and 36 minutes.
A key for the Lady Saints was serving. They attacked the Whitesburg back line regularly with service points. Avy Whaley scored four straight in the opener to give the Lady Saints momentum. She had six in the set.
Ashley Duke provided four points from the leadoff position and critical scoring was also provided from Isabella Cline with five, including set point thanks to an assist from Emma Tafazoli and a kill by Macy Whaley.
St. Bernard got behind 7-0 in game two and stayed down by as many as seven for much of the set. Then the Lady Saints went to work and tied the score at 22-22 on a service point from Duke.
But Duke served the ball long on the next play, giving Whitesburg back the lead at 23-22. They scored two more points and evened the series at a win apiece.
Duke led the Lady Saints with seven points on serve in game two.
Game three was the memorable of the evening. Once again, St. Bernard spotted the visitor a 7-0 lead. Once again, the Lady Saints rallied.
Duke factored in on the comeback with four service points and Cline scored two in crunch time.
St. Bernard was down 24-20 when they broke Whitesburg's serve and were able to recover. Macy Whaley tallied the final six points on serve with assistance by a volley from Avy Whaley and the Lady Saints regained momentum with a 2-1 advantage in the match.
Not to be denied victory with a spirited home crowd, the Lady Saints utilized front line attack play and had four kills in the fourth set. That overcame zero kills during games two and three.
Tafazoli, Myers and Avy Whaley led the charge, getting aggressive against the Lady Warriors' frontline.
Macy Whaley continued to serve with consistency, scoring four straight to lift St. Bernard to a 16-8 lead. Whitesburg slowed down the momentum briefly, but not enough as Duke accounted for three straight service points to make the score 22-13.
Whitesburg volleyed the ball out of bounds, giving the Lady Saints a point, 23-15. After a service break, Avy Whaley had a block at the net for the 24th point then went to the service line and delivered an ace to complete the hard fought triumph. The final set lasted 18 minutes.
For the rest of the week, the Lady Saints will enjoy the friendly comfort of the Fazi-Richard Athletic Center. St. Bernard hosts Falkville in a 2A, Area 13 match Thursday at 4:30 p.m.
The Lady Saints will roll out the welcome mat for five other schools in the St. Bernard Invitational on Saturday. Joining the Lady Saints will be West Point, East Lawrence, Falkville, Lindsay Lane and Shoals Christian.
Competition will get underway at 8:30 a.m. with the tournament to be done in the early afternoon, according to Willoughby.
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