By Justin Graves

Justin@athensnews-courier.com

ATHENS – Elkmont volleyball coach Mary Jane Hobbs couldn’t have asked for a better start from her team. The Red Devils finished the first week of volleyball season with a 6-1 record and won their first tournament by beating East Limestone in two straight sets Saturday afternoon in the championship match of the Athens Invitational.

“This is an excellent start for our team,” Hobbs said. “It would be hard to ask for much more.”

The most impressive thing about Elkmont’s hot start is there is only one senior on the team.

“We’re real young,” Hobbs said. “But we’ve got some girls that are stepping up and playing good for us right now.”

Elkmont beat East Limestone 25-21 and 25-18 in the championship, but getting there wasn’t easy. Athens Bible come out of pool play undefeated and was considered one of the favorites to reach the championship, but the Red Devils forced the Trojans into a third set and eliminated the No. 5 team in Class 1A.

“Everybody gave us a good effort today,” Hobbs said. “That’s what we needed.”

East Limestone faced similar challenges in their road to the finals. The Indians went undefeated through pool play by posting wins against Tanner, Athens, Randolph and eventual champion Elkmont, but ran into a red hot Ardmore team in the semifinals.

East Limestone took the first set from Ardmore, but the Tigers took the second set 25-19 The Indians eliminated the Tigers in the third set 15-10

Bailee Robison led Elkmont in the championship match with four kills and nine digs. Emily Sutton added nine assists and five digs, Ashley Robison had 13 digs, Brooke Pressnell had five digs and an assists and Michelle Townsend had three kills.

Endrea Danielly led East Limestone in the championship with 11 kills and 1 ace. Morgan Franks added a kill, two aces, two digs and two blocks, Racheal Stander had five kills, one ace and four digs, Erin Fudge had 14 assists and eight digs, Bess Rhodes had three assists and three digs and Carly Rhodes recorded four kills and a block.

Elkmont travels to Danville on Tuesday.



New coach learning the ropes

The hosting Golden Eagles may not have advanced out of pool play, but one positive was new coach Gil Hobbs is now more comfortable about hosting a tournament.

The Athens Invitational is the first tournament Hobbs has ever hosted, and he admits its harder than it looks.

“Everything was pretty stressful this morning,” Hobbs said. “But after we got everything started, the day went really smooth. I think the tournament was an overall success today.

“Its good when you can get all the teams in the county together like this. We had a pretty good showing and I think everyone had a good time.”

Hobbs said he plans on hosting a couple of other tournaments later on in the season, including a few junior varsity events.



Volleyball roundup

Athens Bible

Athens Bible beat Ardmore 2-1, West Limestone 2-0, Clements 2-0 and Clements 2-0 before losing 2-1 to Elkmont in the semifinals.

Leading the Trojans Saturday was Abbie Melvin with 63 kills, 30 digs and eight blocks, Kirsten McClure with 97 assists, Christina Ivey with 21 kills, Hannah Owen with 16 kills, nine aces and 27 digs and Emily Cathey with 10 kills, 13 aces and 17 digs.