Houston Academy, Geneva earn WAC volleyball wins

Geneva and Houston Academy volleyball teams have met in the finals of the Wiregrass Athletic Conference Tournament the last two years.

On Thursday, the two got off to a good start to possibly making it three straight. Both advanced to Saturday’s quarterfinals with a win in opening-day action at Houston Academy.

Geneva, fresh off a No. 10 state ranking, struggled against an inspired Daleville team early, but rallied to earn a 16-25, 25-9, 15-6 victory.

Houston Academy, meanwhile, swept Houston County 25-13, 25-10.

The Panthers (9-1) will face Ashford at noon Saturday at HA’s Killingsworth Gym. The Yellow Jackets (7-4) won a pair of matches Thursday, beating Cottonwood 25-22, 25-9 and G.W. Long 25-21, 25-15.  The Raiders (10-6) will play Dale County at 11 a.m. Saturday. The Warriors defeated Headland 25-27, 25-23, 15-3.

In other WAC action Thursday, Houston County stunned Rehobeth 27-25, 12-25, 17-15 and Daleville swept Wicksburg 25-21, 25-7.

Geneva, the tournament’s defending champion and winner in 2004 and 2005, appeared possibly headed to the losers’ bracket after a mistake-filled first game against a Daleville team that didn’t make many mistakes.

However, the Panthers regrouped and took control in the second game behind senior Lacresha Fikes and sophomore Marisa Jenkins. They maintained the momentum in game three to finish off the match.

“We had bad luck, and we started making mental mistakes from nerves because of the bad luck we had,” Geneva head coach Susan Moore said of the opening game.

“After that first loss to Daleville, I told them, ‘Look, we are going to start over right here. Our tournament starts with the second game.’ ”

The Warhawks (4-3) earned a quick 5-0 lead at the start behind the serving of Sequoiyah Fye. They upped the lead to 8-2 following an ace by Makayia Acthley.

The Panthers closed the gap to 9-6, but the Warhawks scored six straight for a 15-6 lead. A kill each from Natasha Clark and Chelsea Abbott sparked the last flurry.

Daleville stayed in control the rest of the game, leading by as much as 12 points before setting for the 25-16 victory.

“They hustled their butts off and caused us to make mistakes,” Moore said. “They played an awesome game.”
The Warhawks grabbed a quick 4-1 lead in game two, but the rest of the match belonged to Geneva.

A kill by Fikes, followed by an ace by Shae Ware, cut it to 4-3. A Daleville shot went out of bounds and Fikes earned a block, pushing the Panthers up 5-4.

After a serve into the net by Geneva forced a 5-5 tie, the Panthers scored five straight to go up 10-5. Fikes had a kill in the run.

Daleville stayed close for a while, but Geneva pulled away, scoring 10 of the last 11 points. Two aces by Macy Duncan and four by Jenkins sparked the flurry.

Geneva quickly took control in game three, seizing a 4-0 lead then extending it to 9-2 on way to a 15-6 win.

For the match, Fikes earned 10 kills and three blocks. Jenkins earned five aces and added 10 assists. Ware had three aces and two kills. K’shena Myhand earned four kills, Duncan had 10 digs and three aces and Kasey Carswell eight assists, two blocks and an ace.

Daleville had two aces from Fye and one each from Acthley and Abbott.

Houston Academy, last year’s runner-up and the tournament champion in 2006, had few problems against Houston County, sweeping the Lions in two games.

“We came out focused and that was our point of emphasis — to communicate and transition well on the court together,” HA head coach Hannah Braswell said. “The girls did that. They stayed focused the entire match. We also had a lot of great serves and that put us over the top.”

Caitlin Stone earned six aces and eight kills to lead HA. Mary Katherine Smith delivered five aces and nine assists. Ellise McEntire and Leah Gunn added three aces each. Autumn Steffens had four kills.

Ashford advanced to face Geneva after winning its matches over Cottonwood and G.W. Long.

In the win over Cottonwood, Kalee McSwain and Leslie Morrow both had four aces and a dig, Tanesha Jones had nine kills and Amanda McNeal and Aleigha Goss both had two aces.

Against Long, Jones earned three aces, two kills and two blocks, Morrow two aces and four kills. Ashleigh Goss delivered four aces, and McSwain and McNeal one each. Aleigha Goss had two aces and a dig, and Patricia Nowell had a block and a kill.

Houston County beats Rehobeth: For Rehobeth, Carley Parker had 10 aces and Christina D’Aloesio had four aces.