ADDISON, Ala. – The Addison Lady Bulldogs are becoming used to hosting their area tournament and did so again this year by winning the area throughout the regular season. Addison, the top seed played fourth-seeded Decatur Heritage, while the second-seeded Meek Lady Tigers played the No. 3 seed Saint Bernard with the winners meeting each other in the nightcap. 1A Area 13 is a tough region due to Addison and Meek being the No. 1 ranked and No. 3 ranked teams in the state in 1A volleyball. State seed No. 2 Spring Garden had their Head Coach there to scout his main competition for the state title. Addison handled the ladies from Heritage in straight sets, while Meek swept the Lady Saints. Addison then continued their dominance of the Meek Lady Tigers by sweeping them for the area championship. Both the ladies from Addison and Meek will advance to the State Volleyball Tournament to be held in Huntsville next week.
GAME 1
Addison opened the tournament with the Ladies from Decatur Heritage and Addison won the first set 25-11 in fairly easy fashion. Addison’s Katie Barrett finished off the set by serving for Addison’s last 8 points to take set one. Dacey Baker and Ava Bartlett were offensive and defensive stalwarts for the Lady Dawgs in the opener.
The second set was a little closer, but Addison was still able to pull away 25-17. Lauryn Cunningham and Baker served for 16 of Addison’s 25 points. Bailee Ory was a digging machine while Hadley Butler handed out assists like they were candy.
The Lady Dawgs then came out super focused for the third set by jumping out to a 14-0 lead utilizing the jump serve of Ory. Baker and Bartlett had multiple blocks and kills during this run. After a short Lady Eagle run, Addison finished off the set and the game by winning 25-12 to advance to the championship game.
GAME 2
The Meek Lady Tigers then played the undermanned Saint Bernard Lady Saints, the Saints were missing one of their better players due to injury and the Lady Tigers weren’t in a forgiving mood. Meek was consistent with crisp passes and solid offensive work to come away with a quick 25-16 win. Meek followed that first set victory by blistering the Lady Saints 25-5. Meek wrapped up the final set with a 25-17 victory, but the Lady Saints did not go down without a fight as they actually led most of the third set until the Lady Tigers decided enough was enough and ran the last 10 points to come away with the 25-17 victory.
GAME 3
The Addison Lady Bulldogs and the Meek Lady Tigers met in the area championship game, and it was due to be a fine game as both teams are two of the best teams in the state of Alabama in 1A Volleyball. Sometimes one team has another team’s number and Addison has apparently gotten Meeks. Meek has lost to the Lady Bulldogs on 3 occasions this season and none of the games were particularly close. The Meek ladies are a quality group of young women, and they are a very deep team but for some reason they have yet to defeat the Lady Bulldogs and tonight would not be their night as they fell for the fourth time this year to the Lady Bulldogs.
In the first set, Addison’s Lauryn Cunningham opened up serving and got Addison to a quick 5-0 lead. The teams would split the next 8 points with Addison holding a 9-4 lead. Katie Barrett had several kills and a block during this quick start for the Bulldogs. After a quick Meek timeout, the Lady Tigers came out and started a nice solid run of their own. Meek tied the game at ten. Annabeth Powell then took the serve and would not release it until she had run off 10 consecutive points giving Addison a 20-10 lead. Powell was assisted by the emergence of young Freshman Ava Bartlett. Bartlett dominated the net on the offensive side as well as the defensive side. You would not want to be in front of one of Miss Bartlett’s blasts across the net. As always, Bailee Ory and Hadley Butler were doing the dirty work with the assists and digs to keep the Lady Bulldog machine rolling. The teams swapped points until with Addison leading 23-16, Addison grabbed the last two to take the first set 25-16.
The second set had a focused Lady Bulldog team jump on the Lady Tigers for a 10-3 lead. This run was led by Dacey Baker and Katie Barrett controlling the net. Addison has to have one of the tallest teams in 1A volleyball with at least 6 girls at least 5’9″ tall. Once again Meek clawed their way back in by cutting the lead to 11-9. The Lady Tigers really communicate well on the court and seem to know what each teammate is going to do. Addison answered by taking a 17-10 lead using Cunningham and Ory’s serves. The second set played out fairly evenly until Addison was able to clinch a 25-16 victory to take a 2-0 lead.
The third set was all Lady Bulldogs. After Meek got off to a 2-0 lead, Senior Leader Ory led Addison by serving for 11 straight points to put the Lady Dawgs up 11-2. After a quick point from Meek, Butler led Addison to 4 more points to put Addison in a commanding 15-4 lead. The Lady Tigers wouldn’t quit and took 6 out of the next 8 points to cut the deficit to 17-10. The serve of Cunningham iced the set and the match as she rattled off 8 straight points to give the Lady Bulldogs the 25-10 win and the regular season as well as the area tournament championship.
The All-Tournament Team, voted on by the coaches, was as follows:
Meek Lady Tigers, Marlee Mosley, Carmyn Daughety and Peyton Johnson. For Addison, Bailee Ory, Hadley Butler, Katie Barrett, Lauryn Cunningham and Dacey Baker. Addison’s Baker was also named MVP of the Tournament.
Addison Head Coach Kaydi Woodard, “This was a big one for us. Meek is a tough team and will make some noise in the state tournament. They (Meek) seem to bring out the best in us as they are probably our biggest rival. It is extremely difficult to beat a quality team multiple times in a season, but our ladies seem to really play their best against them. I was proud of all my young ladies but especially Ava Bartlett. Ava has the talent but has seemed a little hesitant to become aggressive on the court with so many veteran upper classmen that we have. Tonight, she arrived. Big steps on a big stage for Ava, she did great.”
OFFICIAL STATS
Addison was led in kills by Baker with 18. Barrett had 14. Cunningham and Bartlett had 11 each. Butler had 9 and Powell 3. Digs were led by Ory with 35 and Baker with 32. Cunningham had 14, Powell had 13 and Butler had 12. Aces, Ory had 8, Baker and Barrett with 6 each. Cunningham and Butler with 2 each. Blocks, Barrett had 4, Bartlett with 3, Baker with 2 and Butler with 1. Assists, Butler with 41 and Powell with 16.
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