CULLMAN – No. 8 ranked Geraldine from Class 3A visited Cullman High School Tuesday for a tri-match with Guntersville and Cullman.
The Lady Bulldogs lost the first set to Guntersville 25-16. That was the last time during the day Geraldine experienced defeat.
Geraldine regrouped and took two straight from Guntersville 25-23 and 15-11 in the tiebreaker.
The Lady Bulldogs then pulled out a 25-23 decision in the opener with Cullman before running away in the second set, 25-10, going back to Dekalb County with a 22-5 overall record and a six-game winning streak.
Cullman started the afternoon going to the tie-breaking set with Guntersville. The Lady Wildcats converted 10 kills to just two for Cullman in the third game, winning it 15-10 and the match two victories to one.
The Lady Bearcats played Guntersville tight for the 59-minute encounter. In the first set, the Lady 'Cats broke a tie and led 23-22 on a kill from Corley Parrish. Then it was time for Guntersville to get a service break and a point, getting the game even at 23-23.
The first set had six ties and five lead changes. Another kill from Parrish after a serve by Meredith McPherson closed it to 24-23. Then Guntersville got a point on receiving the serve with a kill and gained a 1-0 advantage in the match.
Game two belonged to Cullman. The Lady 'Cats went ahead to stay at 12-11 as Amanda Hill had five consecutive points on serve with Anna Evans getting a kill and a block in this segment.
Tiffani Schwaiger served four in a row to extend the margin to 23-18. As Guntersville closed the deficit to 24-22, Cullman put it away on a kill from Caroline Hollingsworth off an assist by McPherson and the match went into a tie-breaking set.
Guntersville scored three consecutive points on kills and gained an 8-5 lead. Then the Lady Wildcats prevailed by scoring their last four points on kills, defeating the Lady 'Cats 15-10.
Facing Geraldine, Cullman used three in a row from the service line by McPherson and two kills from Hollingsworth to move in front 9-6. Geraldine broke service and began to score on deep serves the Lady 'Cats had trouble handling.
Then Schwaiger rolled off four straight with a big kill from Parrish that pushed Cullman back in front at 19-15.
Geraldine got on a run and went on to win it 25-23 as the opening set was decided in 24 minutes.
Playing with momentum, Geraldine had five of its first six points in the second set on kills and went up 10-3 when Cullman coach Michelle Greenlee called time out, trying to slow down the Lady Bulldogs.
It was not enough to keep Geraldine from getting into rhythm. The Lady Bulldogs ran the lead to 20-7 with four straight points on kills and closed out the match by scoring the last point on a cross court kill. The Lady Bulldogs had 14 points by kills to five for the Lady 'Cats.
This was the first time the Lady 'Cats were swept in a home tri-match in playing their third on the Cullman campus in seven days.
The Lady 'Cats went 2-4 in the Eddie Pruitt Ford Invitational in Hartselle over the weekend and dropped a match Monday in Decatur to Austin High School.
Cullman resumes 6A, Area 14 play at home Thursday against Fort Payne at 4:30 p.m. The Lady 'Cats are 1-2 in area play with a victory at Fort Payne on Sept. 6.
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