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. Comments are closed.
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