CHAMPIONS!!!

October 2, 2009

By Redd Rider of Good Hope High School

After losing the first game of the championship match, Good Hope Lady Raiders took the second game and won the third and deciding game 15-3 at Horton Gymnaisum in Hanceville.

The Good Hope Raiders are once again CULLMAN COUNTY CHAMPIONS!

ALL COUNTY TEAM
Ashley Stanley
Elizabeth Hardin
Katie Windsor

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER
Brandi Hudson

Watch the ARCHIVED VIDEO BROADCAST by clicking on Broadcast Schedule to the upper left of this page.  Sponsored by Good Hope Grocery, Grandma's Car Wash and Rub Board.

GO LADY RAIDERS!

The following from Johnny Thornton of CullmanSportsPage.com:

GOOD HOPE RECLAIMS CULLMAN COUNTY VOLLEYBALL CROWN:

At Lane Horton Gymnasium - Hanceville
# 2 Good Hope  23  25  15
# 1 Holly Pond 25  22   4

It had been a year in which the domination of Cullman County volleyball by Good Hope had ended with Holly Pond defeating the Lady Raiders on the Good Hope campus to end the string of five consecutive championships.
Rosemary Brown's Lady Raiders were ready to get the championship hardware back to the Good Hope trophy case thanks to defeating the Lady Broncos in the winner's bracket final on Tuesday with the assignment going a full three games.

Many thought the rematch would go the distance and possibly be taken into an if necessary assignment since this was a double-elimination format.
Coach April Hays' Lady Broncos looked like they were about to create that segment thanks to winning the first set 25-22 with good play coming from Haley Bagwell, Kesley Hawkins, Haley Terry and Lindsay Hestla.
The game was tied at 13-13 then Holly Pond went ahead and moved the lead to 23-19 before Good Hope came back to cut it to 23-22 when Hawkins got the game winner from the service line to put the Lady Broncos ahead 1-0 and with the momentum.

But the Lady Raiders were ready to show Holly Pond this series would not go in to the if necessary segment. In game two, Good Hope jumped in front 6-5 and had the efforts of Kayla Johnson, Kayla Elrod, Brandi Hudson, Katie Windsor and Ashley Stanley to maintain the lead and send the match into a third set.
Elizabeth Hardin scored the final two points on serve including a service winner and the spirited crowd got themselves ready for the winner take all in which was the fourth time these two have played to a full series this season.
An early spurt by Good Hope sent them on top 4-1 with Elrod scoring six points on serve to break the game open and give the Lady Raiders an 11-3 advantage.
Holly Pond was never able to get back into a smooth performance and a couple of balls that went out of bounds resulted in points for Good Hope. Windsor finished the task with the final three points on serve and the Lady Raiders had nailed down their sixth county volleyball title in the past seven years.

Both teams will have a week to finish up regular season competition then the pair will be hosting 3A area tournaments. Good Hope is the site for the Area 12 Tournament with Holly Pond to be the host for the Area 13 Tournament on Oct. 12.


Michael Cumming's Article from the Cullman Times:

PREP VOLLEYBALL: Raiders reclaim county crown

By Michael A. Cummings

HANCEVILLE - Finally, Good Hope High's volleyball team can think about something else.

But if a one-track mind got them this far, the Raiders might want to find another object for their attention - like a deep postseason run.

One year after watching its five-year run of Cullman County titles evaporate on its home floor, Good Hope came from behind to defeat Holly Pond 23-25, 25-22, 15-4 and win its sixth county championship in seven years Thursday.

It was the moment the Raiders had been looking forward to for 365 days: A chance to beat the team that ended their streak last season.

"We've been preparing for this all summer long," said Good Hope senior Brandi Hudson, who was named tournament MVP. "We knew Holly Pond was going to meet us in the finals."

Once the teams got there, they didn't disappoint.

Holly Pond (27-11) jumped out to an early lead in game one before Good Hope pulled within 20-19. The Broncos held on, winning the opener 25-23.

In game two, Good Hope (27-13) took a 21-16 advantage before Holly Pond tied it at 21. The Raiders then took four of the next five points to win 25-22 and even the match at one game apiece.

Good Hope pulled away in the third game with six straight points for an 11-3 lead. The Raiders dropped only one more point on their way to a 15-4 win and the county title.

Raiders coach Rosemary Brown said her team had been looking forward to getting back the championship ever since watching Holly Pond end Good Hope's five-year streak last season.

"(We started talking about it) when we lost it last year," said Brown. "This is really big for the girls."

Big enough to give the Raiders momentum heading into the postseason? Hudson said it's possible.

"We needed this booster to win more games," she said. "We definitely played as a team tonight."

The closeness of the first two games was no surprise to either coach. The teams split two regular-season meetings before Good Hope beat Holly Pond in the winner's bracket final on Tuesday.

"It's like Rosemary said, we're so evenly matched, with our offense and their defense," said Holly Pond coach April Hays. "They wear you down until you make a mistake.

"It's not the result we wanted, but we have a lot left to play for."
Hudson finished with 15 assists, six kills and one ace to lead Good Hope, while Katie Windsor had 21 kills and five assists.

Kayla Johnson and Jordan York recorded 12 kills apiece. Ashley Stanley had 34 blocks and eight kills, Kayla Elrod had seven kills and seven assists, and Elizabeth Hardin finished with 11 kills and two blocks.

For Holly Pond, Lindsay Hestla tallied eight kills, 10 digs and one block. Haley Terry had seven kills, five digs and two blocks, while Raeven Gilley had eight assists and two aces.

Haley Bagwell recorded four kills, one ace and seven digs. Nora Henderson had seven assists and one ace, and Kelsey Hawkins had four kills, five digs and three blocks.

Tonya Black added 12 digs.

‰ Michael Cummings can be reached by email at michaelc@cullmantimes.com or by phone at 734-2131, ext. 258.