Season over for James Clemens volleyball team
Haley Hop (15) and Simone Clopton(3) call signals during a match at the Super Regional
It was a season of firsts for James Clemens on the volleyball court. But the run ended Saturday afternoon in the North Super Regional, just one step away from a trip to the Elite Eight in Pelham next weekend. The Jets fell to a bigger, veteran team from Vestavia Hills in a quarterfinal match. After an impressive straight set win over Hewitt-Trussville Friday night, the Jets fell in straight sets to Vestavia Hills who had won Class 6A, area 11. The scores were 25-17, 25-15, and 25-18.
“I can’t even express how proud I am of them,” said James Clemens volleyball coach Amanda Smith. “They played so well all year. I know we’re young but we will be back next year, same team. I will have the summer to work with them.”
The new school rallied around the young team that will return 10 of the 11 players on the roster next year. The Jets dominated Area 16 and will stay in that region for at least two more years.
But this day belonged to the veteran Vestavia Hill team that was ranked all year and was seventh in the last state poll.
“We wanted it bad and we played hard but Vestavia Hills defense was just phenomenal,” said Smith. “It’s tough right now but the sun will come up tomorrow and we will start working toward next year.
We wanted to have one more week of practice but a few of us are going to go down and watch the state tournament to see what it is like because we will be there next year,” Smith added.
Like most players, teary-eyed Erica Vuckovic took the loss hard.
“We played our hearts out and I am proud of every single one of us. We were hoping to go to state and be the first team from a new school to go. It hurts so much because we practiced so hard and everybody came out here with good attitudes and we didn’t come out on top.”
With over half the roster made up of sophomores, the future looks bright for the Lady Jets.
For Vuckovic, a sophomore outside hitter, the season was first step for bigger and better things to come in the future.
“There are a lot of positive things we will carry with us from this season,” she added. “We were really proud of winning against Hewitt Trussville and that is why it hurts so badly today because this is the only team we had to beat. Yesterday we were all on point and played really good.”
The crowd at the VBC South Hall recognized their accomplishment and a special announcement was made to highlight the achievement of the team being in the first year of a new school.
