Future bright for area tourney champs

By Andy Brown

Published: October 18, 2007

Championships have come to be expected in Eufaula.
Four region football championships in the last five years have a way of doing that.
But on Tuesday, Eufaula picked up a championship that was at least somewhat unexpected.
After all, the team doesn’t have a single senior on the roster and Victoria Crapps, Terika Davis and Jessica Holloway are the only juniors on the team.
But that didn’t stop the Eufaula volleyball team from claiming the Class 5A, Area 4 tournament crown due largely to the play of a trio of freshmen that were named to the all-tournament team.
Freshman Anjelica Richardson was a terror with her serve notching four aces in the Lady Tigers’ 3-0 win over Charles Henderson in the tournament’s best-of-five championship match.
Lindsey DeFee was just as good. She scored four kills in the win.
Not to be outdone, Allison Richardson tallied a pair of blocks, five kills and two aces.
Fellow freshman Paige Rowland also turned in a standout performance by recording three aces and two kills to help the Lady Tigers cruise past rival Charles Henderson.
The Eufaula sophomores didn’t fair so bad either.
Taylor Condrey recorded five aces en route to earning all-tournament honors, Crystal Nolin tallied three digs, Ashley Williams scored an ace and three kills and Shontia Bouyer recorded a dig.
It just goes to show that talent can make up for a lack of experience.
“We have a great deal of talent on this year’s team,” Eufaula head coach Rebecca Symons said. “We are extremely young, but we will put up a great challenge to any team.”
Holloway represented the juniors well in the tournament by tallying five aces and four kills to earn all-tournament honors.
Crapps recorded three digs and Davis notched two aces and two kills to help the Lady Tigers secure the championship.
“They really pulled together for this match,” Symons said. “They played their best match as a team.”
Now, the Lady Tigers (7-6) have turned their attention to Ozark and a showdown with Gulf Shores at the Alabama High School Athletic Association regional tournament.
“The regional tournament is always tough, but we have the talent and hopefully the will to pull though it and go on to the next round,” Symons said.
Whether or not the Lady Tigers advance past the single-elimination tournament or not, one thing is clear – the future is bright for the Lady Tigers.