Bob Jones volleyball team wraps up area play with win
Bob Jones volleyball coach April Marsh
A year after playing their way to the volleyball state championship game, the Bob Jones Patriots are heading into the postseason on a high note. Thursday afternoon the ninth-ranked Lady Patriots defeated Hazel Green to finish area play at 1-2 after dropping a match to Buckhorn earlier in the week.
The final scores against Hazel Green were 21-25, 25-18, 25-13, and 25-15. Jeneva Salter led Bob Jones with 19 kills followed by Alexis Howell with 15. Jasmyn Wright led the team with 14 digs and Erin Shockey had 44 assists.
“We started slow the first game but we came back and I think we made a turning point in our season and I hope we will just keep building and progressing off that,” said Bob Jones volleyball coach April Marsh.
Bob Jones has their work cut out for them to be one of the two teams to advance out of the area tournament which will be held at Buckhorn on October 18. Buckhorn, ranked seventh with a record of 25-4, won the area going 3-0 and Sparkman, Bob Jones, and Hazel Green all finished 1-2. Tiebreaker rules will be used to determine seeding for the area tournament.
The team still has a lot of games scheduled before the single elimination area tournament. They will play in tournaments atHooverand inTampa,Florida. They will wrap up the regular season at Madison Academy on October 11.
The team will honor seniors Jasmyn Wright, Taylor Whitworth, and Michelle Daniels on Senior Night to be held October 9. That date has been circled for some time by Bob Jones players as they will face cross town rival James Clemens in their only match of the season that day at 4 p.m.
“It will be a fun game and exciting for the players and a chance for the community to come out and watch,” Marsh said. “The seniors will really want to win that game with it being senior night and their last home game.”
James Clemens’ team features one player who played for Bob Jones varsity last season, Haley Hop. The Jets also have one girl who transferred in from Grissom and two from Madison Academy.
James Clemens (25-4) defeated Columbia earlier this week. The Lady Jets are 3-0 in area play with wins over Florence and Decatur. They play at Austin next week and have a home match with Austin on October 1.
“They are a very good team and are very competitive and I think it will be a very good game,” Marsh said.
