Senior recognition
- Updated: October 15, 2019
Faith Christian recognizes eight seniors who’ve made a profound impact on program
Tuesday’s matches
Appalachian 2, Weaver 0 (25-16, 25-18)
Cedar Bluff 2, Ohatchee 1 (25-18, 21-25, 15-7)
Cedar Bluff 2, Faith Christian 0 (25-20, 25-20)
Cherokee County 2, Piedmont 1 (14-25, 25-20, 15-10)
Jacksonville 2, Pleasant Valley 1 (25-21, 19-25, 15-7)
Jacksonville 2, Sand Rock 0 (25-13, 27-25)
Ohatchee 2, Faith Christian 0 (25-19, 25-16)
Pleasant Valley 2, Sand Rock 1 (22-25, 28-26, 17-15)
Sacred Heart at Woodland
Saks at Woodland
Weaver 2, Coosa Christian 0 (25-18, 25-22)
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
Justin Kisor says the only time he’s cried was when he watched “Old Yeller,” but the Faith Christian volleyball coach admitted he was close Tuesday night.
Kisor and the Faith community recognized eight volleyball seniors who all played a part in making the program a Class 1A contender the last two years. The Lady Lions lost their two Senior Night matches, 2-0 to Ohatchee and 2-0 to Cedar Bluff, but that wasn’t necessarily the point.
He could’ve scheduled a couple easy teams to make it a hollow happy Senior Night, but instead gave his team some strong competition designed to sharpen them for the most important matches that lie ahead. The set scores were 25-19, 25-16 against Ohatchee, 25-20, 25-20 against Cedar Bluff.
The ceremony came after the loss to Ohatchee and before the Lady Indians fell to Cedar Bluff 2-1 in the second match of the night. In a real classy gesture, not only were the eight Faith seniors recognized, Kisor presented single roses to each of the seniors on the two others teams.
“They’ve all bought into our system and bought into what I teach, and that’s really all I can ask for,” Kisor said of his senior group. “It took us a little bit, we’ve had some growing pains early. I think they’ve had times in the season that were really good and I think hopefully we’re playing our best volleyball right now because of them.
“That’s huge for us and I hope that somehow we can continue to compete. We have three games left. I hope we can compete. All of them are going to be a dogfight. I hope if they’ve learned one thing from me it’s to do their best in everything they do and have confidence.”
The most veteran of these seniors were part of the team that reached the Class 1A state semifinals a year ago. They face an important area tournament opener against Sacred Heart with a return trip to regionals on the line Monday.
Sydnee Johnson had 11 kills in the Ohatchee match, six against Cedar Bluff and is closing in on 400 for the season. She also had 14 digs in the two matches. The other seniors are Sarah Jessica Christjohn, Elizabeth Bedford, Jordan Campbell, Anna Davis, Sadie Huie, Sarah Macoy and Emma Rutledge and all played a role in the two matches.
“It just kind of feels very surreal that we’re here because we’ve played with all the girls last year and it just didn’t seem real we were going to make it here,” Johnson said. “They set such a high standard for us and that was our goal this year to help lead these girls on this court and hope we made the same impact on them that they did on us. They started really low and made it up and I just want all the girls to know who go through this that they can make it if they work hard enough and put in the hours.”
“It’s kind of weird that it’s our last home game here,” Christjohn said. “I’ve been playing volleyball since the seventh grade and this being the end of our season here it’s just kind of crazy. That last two years have been completely different than it was before. We really improved in the last two years. We weren’t really known as being that great before and now people see us and are like ‘Oh, that’s Faith Christian; they’re pretty good.’ Being part of a team that’s really grown, I can’t really explain it, it’s just really great.
Ohatchee came away with a split, but the big takeaway of the night was getting to see Cedar Bluff, a team they’ll likely cross with at next week’s regionals and played for the first time this season. The Lady Indians are guaranteed a spot as the regular-season winner of a three-team area and Cedar Bluff is one of the projected teams from its area.
The Lady Indians won the tight second set to even the match, but fell behind in the decisive third 8-2 and 13-4.
“We knew that was a big game coming in,” Ohatchee coach Rebecca Hughes said. “I liked how we matched up with them that second game we took from them but the games we lost against them we just didn’t give ourselves a chance. Too many mistakes on our side. We just didn’t play to the best of our ability then.”
Freshman hitter Jorda Crook had eight kills against Cedar Bluff and 15 in the two matches. Bailey Carden had six kills in the two matches and Emma Haynes had eight. Abby Hester recorded 24 assists
Ohatchee 2, Faith Christian 0
KILLS – Ohatchee: Bailey Carden 2, Jorda Crook 7, Emma Haynes 4, Gracie George 1. Faith: Sydnee Johnson 11, S.J. Christjohn 1, Elizabeth Bedford 1, Sadie Huie 1, Emma Rutledge 1.
ASSISTS – Ohatchee: Abby Hester 10. Faith: Anna Davis 15.
ACES – Ohatchee: Abby Hester 2, Jorda Crook 3, Bailey Carden 1, Gracie George 4. Faith: S.J. Christjohn 2, Elizabeth Bedford 2.
DIGS – Ohatchee: Abby Hester 1, Rachel Dunaway 2, Haley Feemster 1, Jorda Crook 2, Emma Haynes 6. Faith: Sydnee Johnson 7, S.J. Christjohn 8, Devan White 12, Elizabeth Bedford 1, Sadie Huie 1, Sarah Macoy 1, Lily Becke 1, Jordan Campbell 8.
BLOCKS – Ohatchee: Jorda Crook 2. Faith: S.J. Christjohn 1, Elizabeth Bedford 1.
Cedar Bluff 2, Ohatchee 1
KILLS – Ohatchee: Hester 1, Carden 4, Crook 8, Haynes 5, George 1.
ASSISTS – Ohatchee: Hester 14, Feemster 1.
ACES – Ohatchee: Hester 1, Crook 1, Carden 1.
DIGS – Ohatchee: Hester 5, Carden 9, Dunaway 5, Feemster 5, Crook 5, Haynes 7, Tori Vice 2, George 4.
BLOCKS – Ohatchee: Crook 2, George 1.
Cedar Bluff 2, Faith Christian 0
KILLS – Faith: Johnson 6, Christjohn 3.
ASSISTS – Faith: Davis 11.
DIGS – Faith: Johnson 7, Christjohn 5, White 8.
BLOCKS – Faith: Johnson 2, Christjohn 1.
Pleasant Valley 2, Sand Rock 1
Jacksonville 2, Pleasant Valley 1
Jacksonville 2, Sand Rock 0
JACKSONVILLE – Kayla Broom had 24 kills and 15 blocks, while Brenna Stone had 23 kills and eight blocks as Jacksonville scored a sweep.
Broom was most prolific against Sand Rock with 14 kills and nine blocks, while Stone scored 17 kills and four blocks against PV. Molly Wilson had 43 assists in the two matches.
Karmyn Sparks had 17 kills and 11 blocks as Pleasant Valley split two matches. Leah Patterson also had 17 kills for the Lady Raiders and Rylee Haynes had 44 assists.
(Two-match totals)
KILLS – PV: Leah Patterson 17, Karmyn Sparks 17, Madison Borders 6, Allie Bryant 1, Rylee Haynes 6, Maddie Schwabe 1. Jacksonville: Kayla Broom 24, Brenna Stone 23, Molly Wilson 2, Aly Harris 7, Shelby Salmon 4, Caitlin Clark 1, Lexi Callahan 1.
ASSISTS – PV: Rylee Haynes 44. Jacksonville: Molly Wilson 43, Brenna Stone 1, Aly Harris 2.
ACES – PV: Leah Patterson 2, Mattie Glass 3, Allie Bryant 1, Rylee Haynes 6.
DIGS – PV: Leah Patterson 7, Mattie Glass 5, Madison Borders 1, Allie Bryant 10, Rylee Haynes 8, Maddie Schwabe 3, Lily Henry 3. Jacksonville: Kayla Broom 5, Molly Wilson 5, Aly Harris 1, Shelby Salmon 4, Caitlin Clark 3, Bailee Pritchett 1, Lexi Callahan 4, Bailey VanCleave 1
BLOCKS – PV: Leah Patterson 3, Karmyn Sparks 11, Madison Borders 2, Rylee Haynes 4. Jacksonville: Kayla Broom 15, Brenna Stone 8, Molly Wilson 2, Aly Harris 2, Shelby Salmon 1.
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