‘Incredible leap’: Sand Rock falls short to Addison in Final Four

Sand Rock’s Lanie Henderson, right, sends a ball back over the net against Addison’s Anna Grace Luker during their Class 2A Final Four volleyball match on Tuesday. Photo by Shannon Fagan.

BIRMINGHAM – Back during the summer, the Sand Rock volleyball team played 12-time and defending Class 2A state champion Addison. Lady Wildcat coach Lisa Bates said the Lady Bulldogs “wiped the floor with us.”

From that point on, Bates and assistant coach Johnny Howell made Addison a point of emphasis at practice. The two teams met again last week in Huntsville at the North Super Regional. The Lady Wildcats gave Addison all they could handle. The Lady Bulldogs escaped their semifinal match meeting with a 3-2 win and went on to win the regional.

On Tuesday, the two teams met again at the state tournament in the Final Four at the Birmingham Crossplex. Once again, Sand Rock played the Lady Bulldogs close, but couldn’t get the edge they needed down the stretch. They lost in three sets 25-20, 26-24, 25-21.

Addison advances to meet Orange Beach in the state championship match on Wednesday at 10 a.m. at Bill Harris Arena. Sand Rock’s season ends at 49-10.

“All year we talked about if we want to get to where we want to play with Addison, we’ve got to serve-receive, serve-receive, serve-receive. That’s what’s been talked about at our practices. We may have said Addison every day,” Bates said. “To get from the point of this summer to the this point is an incredible leap.

“We really worked on passing the floater, and that’s not what hurt us (Tuesday). I thought we passed well last week, and I thought we passed okay today. To see the difference in them killing us this summer and to be able to compete with them at the end of the year, it was incredible to watch the progress. We knew that was the standard.”

Sand Rock built an early four-point advantage in the first set at 8-4, but Addison came back to take the lead and the set.

The two teams were tied in the second set at 24, but Addison made just a couple of more plays down the stretch to take a 2-0 advantage.

In the third set, Sand Rock jumped out to an early 3-0 lead and had the Lady Bulldogs tied at 21, but again, Addison made the plays down the stretch and went on a 4-0 run to close out the set and the match, and the Lady Wildcats’ season.

“All the games were really close, We just couldn’t find that one thing that was going to push us over the edge,” Bates said. “I felt like they had really good defense. Kudos to their defense, but we were still right there in all three games I felt like. We just couldn’t find that little edge to get us over the two or three-point hump to get us a game there so that we could challenge them. They’re a good team.”

Senior outside hitter Addisyn Smothers led the Lady Bulldogs (47-6) with 13 kills and five digs. Junior middle hitter Abby Waldrep added 10 kills and three blocks. Junior setter Gracie Manley collected 40 assists, nine digs, four kills and three blocks. Sophomore outside hitter Dacey Baker came away with eight kills and five blocks. Sophomore defensive specialist Bailee Ory finished with seven digs, two aces and a kill.

Sand Rock senior libero Caley Garrett, who set a new state record for digs in a season last week against Spring Garden, posted 29 digs and three assists against Addison in Tuesday’s Final Four match. Combined with her 39 digs in the win over G.W. Long earlier on Tuesday, Garrett finished her career with 1,141 digs. The old record for digs in a season was 1,073 set by Katelyn Wear from Brooks in 2013.

Senior setter McKenna Ballenger delivered 32 assists and 11 digs. Senior middle blocker Lanie Henderson contributed 10 digs, nine kills and a block. Sophomore outside hitter Katelyn St. Clair collected 10 kills and eight digs. Junior outside hitter Jadyn Foster finished with 13 digs, nine kills and an ace.

“I’m proud of my girls. I felt like they fought to the end, and I’m proud of them for beating G.W. Long this morning and battling to the end there,” Bates said. “We’ve got a good group of girls. They’ve set the standard pretty high on what to expect.

“I hate it for my seniors. I feel like they gave us a fun year. I really don’t remember being too mad too much at them. It was not like we had to beg them to play hard or anything because they did. I’m proud of them. I’m proud of the season they had. It was a real fun ride, and I’m proud of how they represented us.”

Sand Rock’s Jacey Stephens, center, and Katelyn St. Clair, right, prepare to block a ball by Addison’s Katie Barrett during their Class 2A state semifinal volleyball match on Tuesday at the Birmingham Crossplex. Photo by Shannon Fagan.
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