HOOVER – With one big swing from Peyton Harrington to increase the Spain Park Jaguars’ lead to 22-14, it looked like the hosts would cruise to a third-set win and sweep to claim the Class 6A, Area 5 championship.
However, the Thompson Warriors took a few deep breaths, got into position and flipped the switch to end all switches.
Thompson ended the third set on a 12-2 run to extend the match and carried that momentum all the way through all-out battles in the fourth and fifth sets. Ultimately, the Warriors emerged from a hostile Jag Arena with a 15-12 win in the fifth set and a second-straight area title.
While it made for a second nervy win on Thursday, Oct. 15 to advance to super regionals as a No. 1 seed, to Thompson, now winners of 11-straight matches, it was just what the doctor ordered.
“For us, we grew up tonight as a team,” Thompson coach Judy Green said. “We really haven't been challenged very hard lately. We haven't been in a fight like that in I can't tell you how long. And when you're not in those matches, you don't learn that much about yourself. It was my biggest concern coming into today was, ‘Would we be able to sustain a fight?’ And we did.”
The Warriors had drama to open the night in the area semifinal against Oak Mountain. Thompson fought off a fierce effort by the Eagles to win the first set in extras, 26-24. That set up a much more comfortable remainder of the match as the Warriors posted a pair of 25-14 wins for the sweep.
Against Spain Park, Thompson won the first three points of the opening set and used them to pull out for a comfortable lead. A Riley Lingo kill followed by a Maddy Henderson ace made it 9-4 and forced a Spain Park timeout.
The Jags fought back after the stoppage with four-straight points and sent the Warriors into an early timeout with a Kendall Hyde and Lynlee Franks block, cutting the gap to 9-8.
Self-inflicted wounds by Spain Park briefly kept Thompson up 11-10, but the Jags used a 3-0 run to take its first lead of the match. Spain Park took a 16-13 lead before the Warriors tried to regroup.
The Jags kept the momentum going and led by as much as 22-15 going into the final stretch. Thompson’s front row came alive for kills by Brielle Merriweather and Ava Roberson, but Spain Park used a hitting error to win the first set 25-19.
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