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Panthers and Chiefs do well at East/West tournament

Last Thursday the Sandy Creek Lady Patriot varsity volleyball team picked up two more wins. They defeated Fayette County in two games, 25-15 and then defeated Eagle’s Landing 25-12 and 25-15. Sandy Creek was lead by Alicen Lee who had 12 aces and 13 kills, Courtney Bartlett with 26 assists, Sharlae Maldonado and Olympia Haney with three blocks each and Kristen Burnett with 20 digs.

Sandy Creek will face McEachern and Alpharetta at McEachern tomorrow evening.

The McIntosh varsity volleyball team rallied from two early losses to win the silver division of the Georgia East West Tournament (32 teams) and maintain their position (4th 4-AAAA) in the State rankings. Following a tough loss to a strong Starr’s Mill team (12-25, 22-25) and a win against Peachtree Ridge (25-14, 25-14) on Thursday, The Lady Chiefs lost to Woodstock (22-25, 13-25) then rallied with strong defense and team play to win their next four matches on Saturday.

McIntosh defeated Riverwood (25-20, 26-24), Kell (25-22, 25-20), Pope (25-17, 25-23), and finally Harrison, (ranked 4th 5-AAAAA) 25-19, 17-25, 25-17 in the exciting championship final of the silver division.

The Lady Chiefs coached by Wendy Weaver, were led by Senior Captain Abbey Muetzel (passing accuracy (57), 32 kills, 18 digs, 4.5 blocks, eight aces), Danielle Crawford (48 kills, 44 digs, 2.5 blocks, five aces), setter Megan Cheatham (147 assists, 11 aces), Leah Thompson (42 kills, 10 digs), Courtney Hummel (21 digs, eight aces), Rachel Adams (25 digs, five aces), Brianna Argumosa (10 digs, one ace), Samantha Krehel (12 kills, five blocks) and Andrea Lowery (18 kills, three blocks).

Starr’s Mill started out the tournament Thursday evening by beating cross town rival McIntosh 25-11, 25-22. Their next opponent was Kennesaw Mountain High School, a team Starr’s Mill had never beaten over the years. In a tough, close match, the Lady Panthers prevailed over Kennesaw Mountain 25-10, 27-25.

Pool play resumed on Saturday morning, when Starr’s Mill faced a tough Decatur High School team. Decatur came out very aggressive and won the first game 19-25, but the Lady Panthers dug deep and played better in the second and third games, 25-16 and 25-20, winning the match. Next to test the Lady Panthers was perennial powerhouse Landmark Christian High School, another team Starr’s Mill had never beaten. Once again the Lady Panthers faced a very aggressive team that came out and won the first game convincingly 18-25. But Starr’s Mill made some adjustments, and turned up their intensity level to beat Landmark in the next two games 25-22, 25-20 to advance to the gold level round of playoffs.

In the gold level playoffs, Starr’s Mill faced Dacula High School in their first match. Playing with some of their best team chemistry of the day, the Lady Panthers disposed of the team from Dacula in two games, 25-20, 25-12. Next up was North Springs High School, which played Starr’s Mill very tough by continually digging many Lady Panther hits. In two very tight, close games, Starr’s Mill prevailed, 25-23, 25-19.

That set up the tournament championship game with the only two undefeated teams left to compete, Starr’s Mill and Wesleyan. The Wesleyan team provided Starr’s Mill with a formidable challenge as Wesleyan trots out onto the court at least four girls that are 6’ or taller. Starr’s Mill was the quicker team, and played some great defense in the match, but in the end the taller Wesleyan front line dominated the net by hitting and blocking aggressively, beating the Lady Panthers in two games 10-25, 21-25.

Leading the way in stats for the Lady Panthers on Saturday were the hard working outside hitters Kursten Carr (43 kills, 63 digs) and Kelley Elder (13 kills, 47 digs). Setter Nikki Patriarca ran the Panther’s offensive machine by recording an impressive 85 assists for the day. Alex Hayes, Kirsten Massmann, and Aubrey Ireland also had their best games of the season on the Lady Panthers front line. Hayes led the team in blocks (seven), followed by Carr (6.5). Lauren Gray tallied an impressive seven aces in Saturday’s matches. Standing strongest on the serve receive line was Shelley MacBean. The team’s overall record is now 21-4.