CULLMAN – The West Point Lady Warriors volleyball team has found another venue besides Jim Boyd Gymnasium where they enjoy playing.
It's the Fazi-Richard Athletic Center at St. Bernard Prep School. In a span of four days, the Lady Warriors have gone 7-0 vs. the opposition at St. Bernard's beautiful facility.
The latest was a regular season sweep of the Lady Saints Wednesday afternoon, 25-13, 25-22, 25-15.
Since last week, Regina Jones' Lady Warriors have gone 14-2 with 11 consecutive victories. They have the second best record among Cullman County teams behind Fairview's 15-2 record heading into this week. They are 18-6 for the season.
St. Bernard went into the match without one of their key members on the roster. The Lady Saints lost freshman Ashley Duke who turned her ankle Tuesday in an area match with Tanner. It is undetermined how long Duke will be off the floor for Regina Willoughby's Lady Saints.
Duke had been playing at a high level, scoring all 15 points Monday night in the tiebreaking set of a 3-2 win at Vinemont.
West Point saw St. Bernard having to adjust its lineup with Duke and went out to a 7-1 lead in the first set. Three consecutive service points by Meredith Ann Calvert was a spark along with a couple of kills at the net by Calvert, too.
Then St. Bernard got a service break and used three consecutive service points from Isabella Cline to close to 8-6. Her third point was an ace in front of the West Point back line.
A net foul by St. Bernard in a serve from Mackenzie Carter enabled the Lady Warriors to up the lead to 11-6. Selena Clark collected three straight points on serve with the visitors now in front 16-8.
St. Bernard tried to come back as Avy Whaley got a kill and another service point from Cline had them down 24-13. But the Lady Saints served the ball into the net for the final point in the first set and a 1-0 lead for West Point.
Game two was where St. Bernard began to make adjustments and go toe to toe with the Lady Warriors. Anna Myers was hustling all over the floor with McKenna Kline taking over the libero position and doing a good job of receiving the ball on the back row.
Avy Whaley and Macy Whaley converted kills that helped them gain an 18-14 advantage. But the Lady Saints could never stop West Point from scoring on serve.
Bailee Yearwood tallied five straight and the Lady Warriors went ahead and stayed in front for the rest of the set. A volley from Jessica King, a service point by Avery McClure and a kill from Molly Pendley completed the 25-22 comeback.
A tight third game was displayed as West Point went from leading 6-4 to 17-7 thanks to five straight service points by McClure and two quality serves from Carly Colburn.
St. Bernard worked hard and reduced it to 19-10 on a kill by Avy Whaley. But West Point was efficient on two service points by Victoria Bell, one from Colburn and a kill by Pendley to end the match in an hour and five minutes.
The Lady Warriors' serving attack netted 19 of their 25 points in the final set. They had four kills in the game and a couple of blocks that produced points as well.
After playing last Friday, Saturday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, the Lady Warriors are taking eight days off. They will return to the floor for a 5A, Area 12 game at home next Thursday with Fairview. The Lady Warriors are 1-3 in the area.
St. Bernard is also off from the floor for eight days. The Lady Saints hope to have Duke back when they head to Falkville for a 2A, Area 13 match on the 29th. St. Bernard defeated Falkville twice last week, once during the St. Bernard Invitational last Saturday.
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