The Long County Lady Blue Tide volleyball team has had a busy week, playing an away match Tuesday and two home matches Wednesday and Thursday. On the latter day, they welcomed in the Brantley County Herons and Southeast Bulloch Yellow Jackets.
In the first match against the Lady Jackets - their first Region 3-AAA match of the year - the Lady Tide fought hard in the first set, but fell 25-22.
The first set was back and forth with several runs for both teams. Trinity Mook set the tone for the Lady Tide, giving her team an early 2-1 lead on an ace.
However, the Lady Jackets went on a 3-0 run to take a 7-4 lead. That run was then answered by a 5-1 run from the Lady Tide to tie the set 8-8.
At 19-all, the Lady Tide took their first lead since Mook’s ace early in the set.
With the score tied all, back-to-back aces set the Jackets right as they started a 5-0 run to go up 24-20. The Lady Tide scored twice before the Jackets ended the set for the 25-22 victory.
The second set started much like the first for the Lady Tide, but they held a lead later into the set than the first. A Janely Scott ace and Sofia Linear spike gave them a 5-3 lead.
However, this did not last long for the Lady Tide as the Jackets set off on a 12-2 run to take a 15-7 lead that they never relinquished. They added another 5-1 run to push their lead to 22-10 as they won the second set 25-12 and the match 2-0.
After the Jackets and Herons faced off, with the former taking the match victory, the Lady Tide took the court for their final match against the Herons.
Nevaeh Chapman got things going for her team as she scored an ace that set off a 7-0 run to give her team a 12-5 lead.
Linear scored another spike to push their lead to 15-7 but that seemed to anger the Herons as they slowly started to whittle away at the Tide’s lead.
Two 4-1 runs later and the Herons were within 2 points. Even a Jocelyn Norman block to push the lead out to 18-15 could not stop the Herons’ momentum.
They went on a 6-0 run to tie the set at 21-21 before they led 24-22. The Lady Tide scored twice to tie the set at 24-24 and send it into extra serves.
The Herons, however, scored twice to win the set 26-24. This devastating loss seemed to take all the wind out of the Lady Tide’s sails as they fell behind early in the second set and never recovered.
With the score tied at 3-3, the Herons went on a 5-0 run to go up 8-3 and later an 11-1 run to lead 19-7. They finished out the set to win 25-13 and the match 2-0.