E.A. Sports Today

PV finds a Spark(s)

Lady Raiders claim Silver Bracket title after wake-up call against Weaver; Southside wins gold 

CHAMPIONS VARSITY FALL FEST
Pool A
Southside 2, Faith Christian 0 (25-22, 25-9)
Collinsville 2, Saks 0 (25-22, 25-23)
Southside 2, Saks 0 (25-13, 25-15)
Faith Christian 2, Collinsville 0 (25-20, 25-17)
Southside 2, Collinsville 0 (25-17, 25-13)
Faith Christian 2, Saks 0 (25-17, 25-12)
Pool B
Sand Rock 2, Pleasant Valley 1 (26-24, 24-26, 15-12)
Ohatchee 2, Fyffe 1 (25-23, 21-25, 15-8)
Pleasant Valley 2, Fyffe 0 (25-20, 25-16)
Sand Rock 2, Ohatchee 0 (25-21, 25-16)
Pleasant Valley 2, Ohatchee 0 (25-20, 27-25)
Sand Rock 2, Fyffe 0 (25-23, 25-16)
Pool C
Oxford 2, Westbrook Christian 0 (25-20, 25-19)
Curry 2, Cedar Bluff 1 (25-20, 23-25, 16-14)
Cedar Bluff 2, Oxford 0 (25-23, 25-14)
Curry 2, Westbrook Christian 0 (25-20, 25-14)
Curry 2, Oxford 0 (25-22, 25-17)
Cedar Bluff 2, Westbrook Christian 0 (25-15, 25-18)
Semifinals
Pleasant Valley 2, Faith Christian 0 (25-19, 25-20)
Curry 2, Sand Rock 1 (22-25, 25-18, 19-17)
Gold Championship
Southside 2, Curry 0 (25-15, 25-22)
Silver Championship
Pleasant Valley 2, Cedar Bluff 0 (25-12, 25-22)
 
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today

Somewhere around the Pleasant Valley volleyball program there’s a pound cake with Karmyn Sparks’ name on it.
 
Not just a slice or two, the whole cake.
 
In what is sure to become a team-wide tradition if they sustain these results – superstition being what it is and all – pound cake will be the motivator and celebratory reward of choice for what it did for Sparks in leading the Lady Raiders to the Silver Bracket title of the Champions Varsity Fall Fest Saturday.
 
The Lady Raiders swept Cedar Bluff 25-12, 25-22 to claim the Silver Bracket championship, their second finish in the Silver in as many weeks. Sparks dominated the match with 11 kills and seven blocks (with no errors).
 
“Our last tournament (Hewitt-Trussville Husky Challenge) I really started playing good and we ate pound cake, and ever since then I’ve been called ‘Pound Cake,’” Sparks said. “Mattie Glass’ mom made it for the moms and I love pound cake; that’s how that came about.
 
“She said if we had won this game I was getting a whole pound cake to myself.”
 
That’s all she had to hear. Sparks didn’t have any pound cake before the Lady Raiders arrived at Champions Sports Academy but she was a terror at the net all day and it peaked with the 11/7/0 line against the Lady Tigers. For the day, she had 55 kills and 19 blocks.
 
“That was a big accomplishment for her,” PV coach Dana Bryant said. “That was a lot of improvement.”
 
Sparks’ climb has coincided with the Lady Raiders’ recent surge. Since a rare area loss to Weaver right after that Hewitt-Trussville showing, they have won seven in a row. It started with a 2-0 sweep of Donoho, which was installed as the No. 3 seed in the Calhoun County Tournament the day before. (PV was seeded eighth).
 
On Saturday, in addition to Cedar Bluff they beat Fyffe and Ohatchee in pool play and Faith Christian in the silver semifinals. They lost to Sand Rock.
 
“That was a wake-up call for the girls,” Bryant said. “That was where we had to get a new mindset. After the Weaver game, it was time for a new mindset. They knew it and they just had to do it.”
 
Southside won the tournament, beating Curry in the gold bracket finals 25-15, 25-22.

TEAM STATISTICS
Pleasant Valley (4-1)
KILLS: Leah Patterson 32, Mattie Glass 10, Karmyn Sparks 55, Madison Borders 9, Allie Bryant 9, Rylee Haynes 9, Maci Meadows 1.
ASSISTS: Allie Bryant 1, Rylee Haynes 95, Taylor Nix 1.
ACES: Leah Patterson 6, Mattie Glass 2, Madison Borders 8, Allie Bryant 3, Rylee Haynes 7, Taylor Nix 3.
DIGS: Leah Patterson 30, Mattie Glass 35, Gracie Davis 2, Madison Borders 16, Allie Bryant 33, Rylee Haynes 17, Taylor Nix 17, Maci Meadows 1.
BLOCKS: Leah Patterson 8, Mattie Glass 3, Karmyn Sparks 19, Gracie Davis 4, Madison Borders 4, Rylee Haynes 6.
 
Faith Christian (2-2)
KILLS: Sydnee Johnson 24, Sarah Jessica Christjohn 22, Elizabeth Bedford 10, Jordan Campbell 10.
ASSISTS: Lily Becke 77.
DIGS: Sydnee Johnson 41, Sarah Jessica Christjohn 22, Devan White 66, Jordan Campbell 23.
BLOCKS: Sydnee Johnson 8.
 

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