Marianna dominates tri-match

The Marianna High School volleyball team hosted a Junior Varsity and Freshmen Tri-Match Saturday, with two county teams competing for the top spot. Teams from Cottondale and Sneads battled against each other, and Marianna.

Two games were held on separate courts simultaneously, with Marianna’s junior varsity facing off against the Cottondale Lady Hornets junior varsity. Sneads junior varsity was pitting against the Lady Bulldogs’ freshman team. Marianna was the victor in both matches, but it was a battle to the end.

On the A court, Marianna and Sneads went two games, with Marianna taking Game One in overtime 26-24, and Game Two 25-12. On the B court, it was Marianna over Cottondale in Game One 30-28 in an extended overtime, while Game Two was 25-12 Marianna.

In the first game between Cottondale and Marianna, the Lady Hornets jumped out to a 10-3 lead off the serves of Sierra Lewis, Katie Mosier, and Haley Boggs. It was on the serve of Ann Renegar that the Lady Dogs were able to narrow the deficit to three at 8-11.

Taylor Blount then went to the line to complete a round of serves, giving the Lady Bulldogs a 15-13 advantage.

Not to be outdone, Cottondale countered with successful serves by Whitney Calhoun to tie the game at 15, until Marianna pulled away with Christina Wynn at the line 22-21. Calhoun again changed the lead in favor of the Lady Hornets, forcing overtime. Whitney Lipford and Hannah Shouppe combined at the serve line to tie the game at 27, with Sierra Lewis giving Cottondale a 28-27 lead.

Courtney Massengill finished out the game at the serve line to seal Marianna’s victory at 30-28.

In Game Two, Haley Boggs went to the line for Cottondale, and it was a 3-0 game before Marianna answered with Shouppe at the line, to move ahead 9-4. The Lady Hornets could not mount a sustained serve for a serious challenge to the Lady Bulldogs, with the game ending at 25-12 in favor of Marianna.

On court B, it was the Marianna freshmen taking a two-game match from the Sneads Lady Pirates junior varsity.

In the first game, Blair Edenfield started serving to give Sneads the first point of the game. Marianna’s Marta Mock countered to tie the game. Brandy Strickland gave the Lady Pirates a 4-2 lead, but Linsey Basford tied the game at four.

Ashley Rogers made it an 11-5 game at the line, before Porsha Morgan closed the gap at 13-10 in favor of Sneads. Sneads sent Brandy Strickland to the line, with Marianna countering with Desiree Walker, to make it a 23-22 game in favor of Sneads. Alex Maphis tied the game for Sneads at 24, before Marianna pulled away 26-24.

In the second game, Marianna struck first blood with an ace serve from Marta Mock, before Brandy Strickland returned the favor to tie the game at one. Linsey Basford gave the Lady Dogs a 4-1 lead before Savanna Owens went to the line, making it a 5-4 game, with Ashley Rogers tacking on an additional six points to make it 11-5 Sneads.

Tia Bass added two points for the Lady Dogs, and Jenna Sneads did the same for the Lady Pirates to put the game at 13-7. The tide changed for good when Linsey Basford stepped to the line with the game at 14-11 in favor of the Lady Pirates. Basford took it to the house with 14 straight serves, to seal the victory for the Lady Bulldogs at 25-14.

In the second set of matches on the day, Sneads defeated Cottondale, with Marianna defeating Sneads.

Following the game, Sneads coach Sheila Roberts praised Marianna for holding the tri-match. “We greatly appreciate Marianna hosting this event and giving our younger players more of an opportunity to play,” she said.