By Donald Heath
Special for the Effingham Herald
SPRINGFIELD – The volleyball Region 1-5A tournament in about three weeks just got a lot more interesting for South Effingham and Effingham County.
The Mustangs captured their biggest win of the season by knocking off subregion South-leading Glynn Academy on Sept. 10, 2-0 (25-21, 25-16).
Not to be outdone, the Rebels handed subregion North-leading Lakeside (Evans) its first regular-season region loss in five years on Sept. 12, 2-1 (28-26, 20-25, 15-8).
Both local wins avenged earlier season losses to their respective opponents and cast SEHS and ECHS among the contenders in the region tournament on Oct. 10-11 in the Mustangs’ gym.
“As far as a confidence booster, Lakeside is a great team, but this tells the (Rebel) girls they are too,” said ECHS coach Brittany Lein, who won a region title in 2022 despite Lakeside going undefeated in regular-season region play.
The Rebels won a nail-biting first set with some heroics from senior outside hitter Kimber Michaelis, who registered kills on ECHS’ 25th, 26th and 27th point before Lakeside errored the set point.
The Panthers, ranked seventh in Class 5A, won the second set but not before the Rebels trimmed an eight-point deficit to two, 21-19.
ECHS trailed in the 15-point third set, but reeled off the final eight points behind Bella Scroggs’ serving.
The win pushed the Rebels (16-12, 3-2) into second place in the North subregion, but more importantly showed they have a chance against anyone. Two nights earlier, they avenged a loss to St. Vincent’s which was ranked eighth in Class 1A-3A private.
“We talked about how important tonight would be,” Lein said. “We wanted to show we belonged.”
South (12-13, 5-1) showed it belongs at the top of its subregion after beating Glynn and gaining the tiebreaker in point differential.
If the Mustangs win their remaining subregion matches against Bradwell Institute and Statesboro, they will be the South subregion’s top seed at the region tournament.
“We played a lot of tough teams at the start of the season. I knew we’d have opportunities to get back,” said SEHS coach Haywood Ellison, whose squad began the season with a 3-8 overall record.
Ellison also points to a tweak that has worked well – using a 6-2 alignment that allowed setter Riley Stringer, the team’s most versatile player, to hit on the front row.
Clara Vorel and Anna Kate Taylor had six kills apiece against Glynn.
SEHS also knocked off subregion foe Brunswick on Sept. 10 and topped Bradwell on the 12th for a six-match winning streak – five wins coming against subregion foes.
The Mustangs lost three of four matches at the Battle at the Creek tournament at Johns Creek over the weekend. They’ll be in Springfield for a rematch with the Rebels on Tuesday (Sept. 24).
“I feel we have a group that can play with anyone,” Ellison said.
