On Thursday night the Boiling Springs volleyball team started their second half of region play on the road and made good work of their shortest road trip in region play by coming away with a 3-0 victory over Gaffney.
The Bulldogs and Indians battled hard early in the match as Boiling Springs came up with a 25-22 victory in the first set before putting more distance over the Indians in the next two sets coming away with a 25-19 win in set two and a 25-17 victory in the third set to clinch the match. Senior Savannah Page had another strong night for the Bulldogs against Gaffney as she had eighteen assists, ten digs, six kills, and an ace serve while fellow senior Logan Kenny had an impressive match as well finishing the match with fifteen kills, six blocks, and an ace serve. The Bulldogs volleyball team improves their record to 3-2 in region play and will welcome Nation Ford to Boiling Springs on Tuesday for another key region matchup. In the tennis world the Boiling Springs girls tennis team also came away with a victory at Gaffney on Thursday afternoon as they defeated the Indians 5-1 in another region matchup. The Bulldogs got straight set victories in the number three singles and number five singles as both Emily Krechko and Victoria Leonard came away with (6-0, 6-0) victories over their opponents. Anna Lynn Faile and Lydia Sparks also came away with a straight set victory for the Bulldogs in number two doubles (6-0, 6-0). Sydney Braswell grabbed a victory in number two singles defeating her opponent (6-1, 6-2) and Kaiden Price clinched a victory in number four singles by defeating her opponent (6-2, 6-0). Boiling Springs will also return to the tennis court on Tuesday when they host Nation Ford in another critical region matchup as the Bulldogs continue to battle for a place atop the region standings. On Monday afternoon the Boiling Springs volleyball team traveled outside of region play to face off against a defending state championship team, as they defeated Spartanburg Christian Academy 3-0 in front of the Bulldogs home crowd.
With an off day before their next region contest, a region slate that has seen them make some long travels, the Bulldogs decided to stay a little closer to home and take on the twelve time SCISA state championship winning Warriors in a local competition. "Spartanburg Christian has always been good competition for us and in fact the last few years have beaten us," said Bulldogs head coach Allyson Elliot. "So to win tonight is a good win for our team as that group is always competitive. Any time we get an opportunity to compete against them I know it is going to be a good matchup." In the first set the Bulldogs got an early 1-0 lead but the Warriors kept it close early in the set as Boiling Springs only led 10-9 before going on a run. With the Bulldogs leading by one they took control of the match as they went on nine point service run by Ansley Hammet, that included Karson Browning scoring three straight points against the Warriors on two kills and a block. The run also saw a kill by Cloe Wood, a block by Macy Bagwell, and an ace serve from Hammet herself. Boiling Springs led 24-15 before the Warriors went on a four point run of their own to narrow the lead to 24-19 but the Bulldogs Logan Kenny ended the run and the set with a spike kill to the back left corner of the Warriors defense to give Boiling Springs a 25-19 win in the first set. The second set saw the Warriors grab the first lead of the set at 1-0 but the Bulldogs battled back to tie the set at 3-3 before taking their first lead at 4-3 on a spike kill by Logan Kenny. The Bulldogs frontline played strong throughout the second set as Wood, Browning, Kenny, and Savannah Page all combined to score twelve of the Boiling Springs points in the set on a spike kill or block, which also continued to the final point when Cloe Wood spiked a ball from the left side that glanced off the hand of a Warriors player to give the Bulldogs a 25-17 win in the second set. "Our frontline is playing well and our goal as we get back into region play is that they continue to play with that same confidence and intensity," said Elliot. "We get to see all our region opponents one more time and we're still fighting for one of those top spots. For them to come out here tonight and compete while getting those reps in with our setters was important as we head back into the second half of region play." In the third set the Bulldogs fell behind 4-2 early but back-to-back blocks by Savannah Page not only tied the set but gave Boiling Springs a 5-4 lead. With their state championship history the Warriors weren't just going to give up though as they battled back in the set to take an 18-14 lead. With a victory in their grasp the Bulldogs evened up the set at 20-20 on a kill by Charlotte Hutchins, her third of the set, as both teams were tied three times over the next five points before Boiling Springs took a 23-22 lead. Logan Kenny extended the Bulldogs lead to 24-22 on a block kill before giving the Bulldogs the 25-22 set victory when she spiked a ball that hit off a Warriors defender and landed in the middle of the court for the match victory. Savannah Page ended the match for the Bulldogs with fourteen assists, nine digs, three kills, and an amazing eight blocks. Karson Browning came away with eight kills and five blocks on Monday night while fellow frontline player Cloe Wood ended the match with eight digs and thirteen kills. Ansley Hammett, who had the strong service run for the Bulldogs in the first set, also had a good night on Monday finishing the match with two ace serves, two assists, and nine digs. While the match was a nice breather for the Bulldogs from region play, it was also nice break from the long travel that comes with playing in their region. "It's nice for one not to have to travel tonight because there's several schools in our area that are very good in volleyball," said Elliot. "Anytime we can play someone close by it's nice knowing we're not going on a long road trip, plus most of these kids know each other because they grew up in the same communities." Boiling Springs will reenter their region part of the schedule on Thursday when they travel to Gaffney, which is their shortest region road trip of the season. In front of a large crowd of family and friends on Monday afternoon the Boiling Springs tennis team honored their senior players with a 6-0 victory over their district rivals Chesnee.
The Bulldogs honored four senior players on Monday, a group that consists of Madison Ball, Sydney Braswell, Emily Krechko, and Lydia Sparks, a group that head coach Jill Cooke said is a special group of seniors. "The contributions these girls have made to the program has meant a ton," said Cooke. "Madison is our captain and has really been a leader this year. Tennis is her life and she brings that energy to her teammates. Sydney has been dedicated to this program as she has been a varsity letterman for six years, which is something that rarely happens anymore. All of the seniors are just special and kind souls who are really good leaders." Cooke said that the extent to which she will miss this group of seniors is one that can't be quantified. "The level that I'm going to miss this group is immeasurable," said Cooke. "I'm going to miss them tremendously, these are my babies. This group is really important to me and I'm going to miss them." In the match all four seniors came away with victories in their matches starting with Madison Ball in number one singles who defeated Ansley Mossburg (6-1, 6-0). In number two singles Sydney Braswell defeated Trista Gaffney (6-3, 6-1) and Emily Krechko defeated Anna Hayes (6-0, 6-2) to win in number three singles. In number two singles the fourth senior Lydia Sparks and her teammate Anna Lynn Faile came away with the victory (6-1, 6-4) over Lanie Arrowood and Carter McClain. The Bulldogs also came away with victories in the number four singles where Kaiden Price defeated Faith Stewart (6-0, 6-1) and Victoria Leonard defeated Olyvia Stowell (6-1, 3-6, (10-5)) in number five singles. Cooke said that having such great senior leadership for the Bulldogs is big as the team heads into region play. "Having that senior leadership heading into region means a lot because they have a lot of experience and know how to talk to the underclassmen," said Cooke. "They can look at the younger players and explain to them how opposing players work because they've played them before. It also helps give the younger players confidence because they know that they have their senior teammates by their side." Boiling Springs will return to the courts on Thursday in a road region match at Gaffney. For the second straight week the Boiling Springs football team made a trip to Greenville County and for the second straight week it didn’t go in favor of the Bulldogs as they fell 58-7 to Mauldin on Friday night.
The game was 7-0 most of the first half with the only touchdown coming when Mauldin quarterback Emory Watson found Aaron Bowers for a seventeen yard touchdown pass across the middle to put the Mavericks ahead. In the final five minutes of the second quarter is when Mauldin put the distance between themselves and the Bulldogs as they scored twenty-three unanswered points to end the half. Mavericks running back Kelvin Johnson accounted for two touchdowns during that period as he scored from both seventeen yards out and six yards out. Watson connected with Bowers again for another touchdown, a twenty-three yard pass, during the five minute span along with a safety against Boiling Springs to give the Mavericks a 30-0 halftime lead. As numerous plays went against the Bulldogs in the first half, one play kept the Mavericks from adding to their lead when the Bulldogs were pinned deep in their own territory on fourth down, punter Kaillou Touch took the snap and raced around the right side for an eleven yard run and a first down not allowing the Mavericks to get the ball back before halftime. In the second half Kelvin Johnson added two more touchdowns to start the second half for the Mavericks to push their lead to 44-0 over the Bulldogs, scoring from both ten yards out and thirty-nine yards out. Johnson finished the night with 138 yards rushing on fifteen carries for the Mavericks while adding four touchdowns to lead the way for Mauldin on the ground. Boiling Springs’ running back Carmelo Martin added the only score for the Bulldogs on Friday night when he ran through the middle of the Mauldin defense for a fourteen yard touchdown run. Bulldogs running back Kam Williams led the Boiling Springs rushing attack gaining 81 yards on sixteen carries. The Bulldogs’ Calvin Jackson had a strong night along the Boiling Springs defensive line as he registered six tackles including two sacks and two tackles for loss. Hudson Wilson and Joston Miller both added two tackles for loss for the Bulldogs defense as well. Boiling Springs will return to the football field next week when they start region play by hosting 5A #3 Gaffney, who defeated 2A #2 Gray Collegiate 38-35 on Friday night. As the swimming season starts to head towards region and state meets over the next few weeks, the Boiling Springs swim team used Tuesday night to end their regular season by honoring their two seniors with a 220-100 overall victory over Oakbrook Prep at the Middle Tyger River YMCA.
"It was an excellent senior night and you couldn't ask for much more on a night like that," said Bulldogs head coach Lanie Peden. "Both of our seniors have been a part of the team for a long time and finished in an excellent way. We also got to finish against Oakbrook, who we practice against regularly, so it was only fitting to have their final regular season meet against those guys." On Tuesday night the Bulldogs honored seniors Will Humphrey and Cameron Duggins, who Peden says have both been incredible leaders in the program. "They are both outstanding leaders," said Peden. "Everybody loves Cameron because he brings a lot of humor and life to the team and if anyone is down he's the one to lift them up. I can't say enough about Will as his talent is just outstanding and he'll be swimming in college, which is a big deal because it has been a little while since we've had a swimmer sign to swim in college. He is a team leader as he encourages all of our other swimmers from the youngest kids to the most experienced ones." In the meet the Bulldogs came away with victories in nineteen of the twenty-two events held between the two schools on Tuesday evening. Will Humphreys came away with four victories on Tuesday night in his final home meet with victories in the 200y medley relay (along with Garrett Watson, Ashton Threadgill, and Miles Humphreys), the 200y individual medley, the 100y backstroke, and the 400y freestyle relay. Cameron Duggins finished his final home meet with a third place finish in the 100y butterfly event and a second place in the 100y backstroke, only finishing behind fellow senior Humphreys. With the victory on Tuesday night the Bulldogs also finished the regular season on a high note as they head towards the region and state meets, which Peden says she's glad her team was able to finish on a high note before getting into an important next few weeks. "It's important to end tonight we did going into the region meet next Saturday," said Peden. "It's good to end on a positive note as we've been working on a lot of technical things that could save seconds which could send or not send a kid to the state meet. We'll take the momentum from tonight and take that into practices going into the rest of this week and next week so we'll be ready to go for the region meet." The Bulldogs will be competing in the Region III-5A meet on October 2nd that will be held at the Fort Mill Aquatics Center in Fort Mill, SC. In front of a loud crowd on Tuesday night the Boiling Springs volleyball team kept their record perfect at home as they defeated Clover 3-0 in a key region matchup for the Bulldogs.
The victory improves the Bulldogs region record to 2-1, with their only loss being a loss to Nation Ford, and puts them in a tie for first place in Region III-5A. "This was a big game for us tonight because each team has at least one loss so our region is available to anyone right now," said Bulldogs head coach Allyson Elliot. "We're ultimately battling for a region championship and for a spot in the playoffs, so we knew getting a win tonight would be big for us. Our girls showed up to play tonight and sometimes things just fall into place which they did for us tonight and it's exciting to see." With the Bulldogs knowing the importance of the match they jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in the first set but the Blue Eagles battled back to a 10-10 tie, as they weren't going to go down without a fight. Boiling Springs responded with three straight points to take a 13-10 lead that included two kills by Cloe Wood. Boiling Springs kept that lead throughout the rest of the set holding a 23-19 lead before winning the final two points on a spike kill by Karson Browning and a block kill by Logan Kenny to claim a 25-19 victory in the first set. In the second set the Bulldogs trailed early and was able to tie the set three different times before finally taking control of the set when Browning picked up a kill to give the Bulldogs an 18-17 lead. Boiling Springs pushed their lead to 21-18 before scoring four of the final five points of the set, including three of those points coming from Cloe Wood on two kills and an ace serve, to capture the set 25-19. The third set was back and forth early until the two teams once again tied at 9-9 on a kill by Charlotte Hutchins. The point by Hutchins was the start of a ten point service run by Savannah Page that included an ace serve from Page and kills from Browning, Wood, and Macy Bagwell, as the Bulldogs frontline continued their impressive start to the 2021 season. "Our frontline has worked hard all offseason so it's not something that just started this month," said Elliot. "All of our girls have been working hard all offseason and their seeing the benefits to their hard work and it was great that they were all contributors tonight." Clover got no closer than seven points the rest of the set as Savannah Page ended the set and the match with a spike kill from the right side of the net to the middle of the Blue Eagles defense grabbing a 25-17 set victory and a 3-0 victory in the match. Savannah Page ended the night with seven kills, fourteen assists, twelve digs, and two ace serves while Cloe Wood ended the match with twelve kills, fifteen digs, and two blocks. Gracie Kilgore led the team in digs with twenty-two digs while Karson Browning added a strong night at the net with nine kills and two blocks. Boiling Springs will return to the court on Thursday when they travel to Fort Mill to finish out their first trip through region play. As the Boiling Springs team arrived to the stadium on Friday night the heavens opened up dumping buckets of water onto the field which was the just start of a long night for the Bulldogs.
Boiling Springs fell to the homestanding Hilcrest Rams 37-0 on Friday night in a game that was scoreless most of the first half. After a sluggish start to the first half the first score of the game came with seven minutes left to go in the half when Rams quarterback Bennett Judy found Hunter Wisnewski on a seventeen yard touchdown pass to the middle of the field to put Hillcrest up 7-0 over the Bulldogs. With just under three minutes to go in the first half the Rams doubled their score when they blocked a Bulldogs punt that was recovered by Hillcrest's Grant Holliday in the endzone to give the Rams a 14-0 lead heading into halftime. In the third quarter the Rams added a safety and a touchdown run by Logan Coldren to extend their lead to 23-0 over the Bulldogs when the horn sounded to end the quarter. With less than nine minutes left in the fourth quarter Hillcrest added two more scores, one a passing touchdown from five yards out to Avery McFadden and the other a one-yard run by Judy to put the Rams lead at 37-0 over the Bulldogs. On a night that saw very wet field conditions the Rams got a big night on the ground from sophomore running back Thomas Stanley who got 137 yards on thirteen carries. Boiling Springs will look to rebound next week when they travel to Mauldin for another non-region matchup before opening up region the next week at home against Gaffney. When Karson Browning spiked the ball into the middle of the Indians defense for the final point in the fifth set the point sealed a 3-2 victory for Boiling Spring over Gaffney to open region play for the 2021 season.
The Bulldogs grabbed the victory in the fifth set 15-9 after leading the match 2-0 before Gaffney rallied to win the next two sets to send the match to the deciding fifth set. "We needed the first to get the first win in region play," said Boiling Springs head coach Allyson Elliot. "We took the first two sets and I didn't think it was going to go five but I know Gaffney is always a scrappy team and won't just quit playing because we were up early. I'm impressed that they didn't back down because it makes both our team and their team better. At the end of the day though we got the job done and that's what matters the most." In the first set Boiling Springs fell behind Gaffney 8-4 early before tying it at 13-13 on a spike kill by Savannah Page and then grabbing a 14-13 lead on an ace serve by Grace Shepherd. Shepherd's service run extended the Bulldogs lead to 16-13 when Cloe Wood followed up the ace serve with back-to-back kills. Gaffney was unable to cut into the Bulldogs lead from that point on as Wood ended the set in favor of the Bulldogs when she spiked a ball that landed just inside the right corner backline of the Indians defense to claim a 25-17 set victory. The Bulldogs started the second set of the match just like they finished the first as Cloe Wood came up with a kill that deflected off a Gaffney defender. Boiling Springs started the second set scoring ten unanswered points that included four kills from Wood, two kills from Logan Kenny, and an ace serve from Gracie Kilgore. Gaffney got no closer than nine points in the second set as the Bulldogs scored the final three points of the set as Wood picked up a kill, Grace Shepherd had an ace serve, and Savannah Page got the game winning point on a block kill to give the Bulldogs a 25-12 victory. In both the third and fourth sets the Bulldogs had multiple opportunities to claim the victory but Gaffney fought back each time Boiling Springs tried to finish off the match claiming a 26-24 victory in the third set and a 30-28 victory in the fourth set. Macy Bagwell put the Bulldogs ahead 1-0 to start the fifth set before Gaffney was able to come back and tie the game at 2-2 before Savannah Page gave the Bulldogs the lead back at 3-2 on a spike kill down the left side of the Indians defense. With the Bulldogs up one point, Cloe Wood continued her strong night by starting a six point service run that included four ace serves and a kill by Savannah Page, which proved to be the difference in the final set as they claimed a 15-9 set win. Wood finished the night for the Bulldogs with twenty-four kills, twenty-one digs, and seven ace serves. "Cloe is coming into her own and is exciting to watch play," said Elliot. "She's a competitor and wants to win every point. She will make whatever adjustment needs to be made during the match and I'm certainly proud of her." Wood wasn't the only Bulldog to have a strong performance on Tuesday night as Gracie Kilgore finished the night with forty-six digs and three ace serves while Savannah Page ended the night with nineteen kills, thirty-two assists, and thirteen digs. Elliot said that her team picking up a victory in their first region match of the year was big for the team, especially playing in such a competitive region for volleyball. "It's exciting to get that first region win out of the way," said Elliot. "We know we have about four weeks of region play coming up and everything we have done before now has prepared us for this point. I've just really stressed to the kids to stay healthy and keep our focus as anything can happen with any team in this region. We're just going to take it one night at a time and we'll now turn our focus to Nation Ford." Boiling Springs will continue their region play on Thursday night when they travel to Nation Ford. On Friday night Spartanburg got a big game from wide receiver Andrew Dantin whose strong night led the Vikings to a 52-13 victory over the home standing Boiling Springs Bulldogs in a matchup of former region foes.
"They were just more physical than we were tonight," said Bulldogs head coach Rick Tate. "In this game you have to be able to block and tackle which we didn't do a very good job of tonight. We just got to come in this weekend as coaches and work a little harder to get our kids in the best possible positions and we'll have a plan come Monday. Hopefully each week we'll get a little more experience and we'll find something we can make work to be successful next week." The Vikings opening drive saw Dantin account for sixty-one of his team's seventy-four yards but the Bulldogs defense came up big with a goal line stop to deny Spartanburg from scoring on the opening drive. The opening drive was the start of a big night for Dantin as he finished the night with twelve receptions for 281 yards. After the Bulldogs were unable to get a first down on the ensuing drive, Spartanburg took the first lead of the game when Raheim Jeter found Jay Staggs on a 27-yard touchdown pass in the middle of the endzone to give the Vikings a 7-0 lead with just over two minutes to go in the first quarter. Spartanburg added another touchdown with eight seconds left in the first quarter when Drek Carter took a handoff up the middle before breaking to the left side of the endzone for a 14-0 lead over the Bulldogs. Spartanburg kicker John Love booted home a 25-yard field goal for the only score for either team in the second quarter to give the Vikings a 17-0 halftime lead over the Bulldogs. The Vikings added three scores in the third quarter behind two touchdown runs by Carter and a six yard touchdown run by Terrian Nelson to give Spartanburg a 38-0 lead heading into the fourth quarter. Boiling Springs got their biggest highlights of the game with under five minutes to go in the fourth quarter which started when defender JoJo Barrett recovered a forced Spartanburg fumble at the Boiling Springs four yard line and returned it to the Vikings thirty-two yard line, as the fumble recovery was added to numerous tackles and a sack by Barrett earlier in the game. After the fumble recovery the Bulldogs got their first score of the game when running back Carmelo Martin took a handoff down the left side for twenty-two yards for their first score of the game to put the Spartanburg lead at 45-6 over the Bulldogs. Martin added another touchdown run to his resume after another Spartanburg score when he took a handoff eighty yards down the left side outrunning the Vikings defense to put the Spartanburg lead at 52-13. He finished the night with four carries for 101 yards and two touchdowns on Friday night to lead the Bulldogs rushing attack. "I'm happy for Carmelo," said Tate. "If Carmelo gets a step on anybody they're not going to catch him." Raheim Jeter led the Spartanburg offense at quarterback going twenty-one of thirty for 425 yards passing and a touchdown. Boiling Springs will return to action next week when they travel to Hillcrest for another out-of-region contest. Hillcrest was idle Friday night after falling to the same Spartanburg team last week 45-37. The Boiling Springs swim team traveled to Greenville on Thursday as they came away with a strong second place finish defeating Hillcrest, TL Hanna, and Fountain Inn with the host team Mauldin being the only team to defeat the Bulldogs. "The team fought through some tough outdoor pool conditions to beat three out of four teams," said Bulldogs head coach Lanie Peden. "The kids are working very hard and I look forward to seeing how we finish up with the rest of the season." The Boiling Springs boy's 200m medley relay team (Will Humphreys, Ashton Threadgill, Garrett Watson, and Miles Humphreys) came with a victory to start the meet finishing in a time of 1:58.53 which was three seconds ahead of second place Mauldin. Ashton Threadgill picked up two more victories for the Bulldogs on Thursday as he came away with a victory in the 200m freestyle with a time of 2:06.94, four seconds ahead of second place, and won the 100m breaststroke with a time of 1:14.41 which was over six seconds ahead of second place. The Bulldogs Garrett Watson also picked up two more victories on Thursday as he grabbed a victory in the boys 200m individual medley with a time of 2:29.98 and a victory in the boys 100m butterfly with a time of 1:06.92 which was almost eight seconds ahead of second place. Will Humphreys grabbed his second victory of the meet in the boys 100m backstroke event with a time of 1:05.65 which was three seconds of the next closest swimmer, while being just narrowly defeated by Mauldin's Evan Otten in the boys 50m freestyle by less than three tenths of a second. Laney Moore came away with a second place finish for the Bulldogs in the girls 200m individual medley with a time of 2:48.76 and also grabbed a second place finish in the 100m breaststroke with a time of 1:28.56. Morgan Greenlee also came away with a third place finish for the Bulldogs in the girls 200m freestyle with a time of 2:26.34. Boiling Springs will return to the water next Tuesday in another out-of-region meet when they take on Dorman at Converse which Peden says the team is looking forward to getting to see another local team. "The meet against Dorman will be a fun one for the kids as they get to take on their cross town rivals," said Peden. Dixon Wins Medalist HonorsThe Boiling Springs golf team also competed on Thursday afternoon as they came away with a second place finish but saw their golfer win the individual honors at the Cherokee National Golf Course.
The Bulldogs' Madison Dixon won the medalist honors shooting a low score of 34, two shots ahead of the next closest golfer. While Dixon won the medalist honor on Thursday the Bulldogs shot a team score of 186 which was just eight shots behind the host school Gaffney while finishing twenty-three shots ahead of third place Landrum. Boiling Springs will return to action on Monday at the Jack Golf Tournament at the Cross Creek Golf Course in Pendleton before competing in the the Lady Eagle Golf Tournament at the Links at Stoney Point on Tuesday. |
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