In a five-set thriller, the Russellville High School varsity volleyball team picked up its first area win of the season Tuesday night, coming from behind to defeat West Point 3-2 at the RMS Gymnasium.
After opening the match with a win in the first set, the Lady Golden Tigers dropped the next two sets to the Lady Warriors but rallied to win the fourth set 25-21 and the decisive fifth set 15-11.
“It means a lot. I’m just very proud of them and how they fought and how they finished,” first-year Russellville head coach Madison Lamon said. “We’ve been focusing on that a lot, and I’ve been harping on that with the team about finishing because we’ve been going three or more sets and coming up short.
“When you’re neck and neck, don’t back up against the wall and shut down but push forward—that’s what we’ve been focusing on,” she added.
The Lady Golden Tigers took the advantage in the first set, fighting from behind to win 25-21; however, the Lady Warriors stormed back to win the next two sets 25-14, 25-14. Down heading into the potential match-deciding set, Lamon told her squad to forget the last two sets and focus on the next one.
“I just told them, you know, it’s a new set going into that fourth set,” Lamon said. “It’s a new set, we’re both blank, it’s zero-zero. Let’s not harp on the past and just focus on the next one.”
Russellville showed plenty of fight to win the fourth set 25-21 and send it to a fifth and final set. The match now tied up 2-2, the Lady Golden Tigers got off to a flying 4-0 start in the fifth thanks in large part to serves from Blevyn Sappington. Sappington—she ended the match with 14 kills, seven digs, and two service aces—was just one of the players that impressed Lamon with her performance Tuesday night.
“I think Laila (Hill) there towards the end stepped up for us, and Blevyn was diving for balls everywhere,” Lamon said. “Bri (McCulloch), our libero, did a great job moving side-to-side, hustling and diving for the ball, saving it for us.
“Fatima (Ramirez) stood out in key moments in serving and tipping (the ball), as well,” she added.
Hill led the team with 16 kills and McCulloch finished with 25 digs on the night.
After two West Point timeouts, service from Ramirez helped the hosts go on another 4-1 run to give Russellville a 12-4 lead. The visitors did give the hosts a slight scare, going on an 8-2 run to make it 14-11, but in the end Russellville pulled it out to win 15-11.
In those tense moments, Lamon said she tries to remind her players—and herself—to stay under control.
“I just try to calm myself down and tell them to keep calm; slow the game down and not speed it up faster than what it needs to be sped up,” she said. “Just keep it one play at a time.”
The victory marks Russellville’s fifth in its last six matches. The Lady Golden Tigers swept Belgreen twice and added wins over Haleyville and Hamilton since September 7th. Those wins, Lamon said, gave Russellville confidence heading into the match against West Point and believes the area victory will bolster it with more matches coming thick and fast.
“This weekend, our tournament on Saturday, helped build that confidence a lot because I know before some of them were down on themselves because they were hitting negatives or they were serving negatives or things like that,” she said. “I think those wins and this win tonight has helped our confidence a lot moving forward, too.”
With the win, the Lady Golden Tigers improved to 11-12 overall and 1-1 in Class 5A Area 15. Russellville will hit the road to face Deshler and Wilson in its next match on Thursday.
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