By Donald Heath

Special for the Effingham Herald

SPRINGFIELD – Brittany Lein says her Effingham County volleyball team is peaking at just the right time.

The Rebels’ frontline is outhitting bigger teams. The backline has been scrappy defensively. And the two strengths have produced a nine-match winning streak.

And it’s all coming together about a week before the region tournament.

“My gosh, we’ve been playing ball,” said Lein after straight-set wins over visiting Savannah Country Day and county rival South Effingham on Sept. 24.

ECHS (25-12) stung the Hornets 25-15, 25-12 in the opening match and dominated the final 10 points in both sets in a 25-17, 25-17 win against South.

The Mustangs topped SCD 26-24, 25-19 in the middle match.

“We’ve been focusing on things we can control,” Lein said. “Other teams are going to get blocks, other teams are going to get kills. That’s OK. Other teams are good too, but it’s how we turn around and do something with the ball.”

The Rebels finished second in the Region 1-5A North subregion but avenged losses to both Greenbrier and Lakeside and have played the last month with confidence. Senior

Perkins led the squad with 13 kills in the two matches against Country Day and South Effingham. She had three straight kills to get ECHS off to an 8-3 lead in the first set against the Hornets and added a highlight moment against the Mustangs with three kills and a block during a 7-0 run that turned a 16-16 first set into a comfortable 23-16 Rebel advantage.

“Instead of being on the defensive side, we’ve been working offensively on putting balls away. Put the errors on (our opponents),” Lein said. “For this match (against SEHS), we talked about having energy, but controllable energy.”

It was the second straight win for ECHS in the county rivalry. The Rebels won 2-0 on Aug. 20 by winning the final four points in the first set and the last two of the second set.

This time, ECHS outscored South 9-1 to end the first set and 10-2 to end the second set.

“We can’t start slow. That’s what hurt us tonight, having to fight so hard, you wonder how much you’ll have left when those points matter at the end,” Mustangs coach Haywood Ellison said.

South (17-14) entered the day playing well. The Mustangs won five in a row after topping SCD and 14 of 20 after starting the season 3-8.

A year ago, SEHS also got off to a slow start, but beat Effingham County in the teams’ second meeting and again in the region tournament to enter start as the region’s No. 2 seed. The Mustangs used the momentum to advance to the Elite Eight of state.

“I’ve been preaching all season just because it happened that way last year doesn’t mean it will happen again,” Ellison said.

SEHS overcame a five-point deficit (22-17) to rally in the first set against Country Day with Clara Vorel producing two kills and a block down the stretch as the Mustangs weathered two set points.

Riley Stringer, providing an extra hitter on the frontline, had two blocks and a kill during a 6-0 run in the second set to push South into a 13-5 lead. SCD never got within four the rest of the way.

The Mustangs and Rebels had eight ties through the first 16 points of the first set of their match with Vorel dominating the middle with three blocks.

It was 15-15 in the second set.

But ECHS surged each time.

While the match didn’t count in subregion standings – ECHS is in the North subregion and SEHS in the South subregion – the match could be a preview of a potential second-round region tournament clash.

The Mustangs can win their side of the subregion by beating Statesboro and Bradwell Institute this week. ECHS finished second on its side, but avenged its two subregion losses against defending champion Lakeside and Greenbrier.

The region tournament is Oct. 10-11 at South Effingham.

“Effingham County’s girls are playing well and it’s good to see them playing like that because we know we have to step our game up,” Ellison said.