COVINGTON, Ga. — In one of the few battles between county-area volleyball teams this season, the Eastside Eagles came out victorious in a sweep over Alcovy and Peachtree Academy.
The three schools competed at Eastside High School on Tuesday in a tri-meet as each team prepares for the bulk of their season and region play.
The event opened up with the Panthers against the hosting Eagles, who won back-to-back sets to clinch the match after Peachtree Academy took the opener.
In the second match, Peachtree Academy bounced back with a 2-0 win over the Tigers.
With the event on the line, Eastside won decisively in the final match with a 2-0 victory over Alcovy to claim the event
Eagles storm back to win the opening match over Peachtree Academy
The Panthers came out strong in the opening set on Tuesday with a 25-19 win over Eastside.
Peachtree Academy found most of its success in the opening set on its serves as Jessica Eidson provided a strong attack for the Panthers.
A late run of points off the back of Eidson sealed the deal for the Panthers to claim the set, but the Eagles did not go away easily.
The second set proved to be the complete opposite as Eastside seemed to figure out the Panthers.
Eastside stormed to an early lead and never gave it up on its way to a 25-10 set victory.
One of the main reasons was Madison Knight, as her serves pushed Eastside from 13 points all the way up to 22 before the team clinched the set.
Eastside’s Hallie Thigpen also had a strong set as she finished second on the team in kills.
The set victory for the Eagles meant the two teams squared off once again in a set to 15, and it proved to be all Eastside.
Eastside went on an early run to lead 4-0 with serves from Presley Jewell and never relinquished the lead as it went on to win 15-7.
After a quality performance in the previous set, Thigpen went on to have a strong finish to the match as her serves paved the way for the Eastside win.
Panthers bounce back with win over Alcovy
Peachtree Academy defeated Alcovy in two sets in the second match of the day, and it opened in perhaps the closest set of the entire event.
The Panthers and Tigers traded scores early on and neither team seemed to be able to maintain a strong run of points.
Jaicee Ingorsoll provided early points for the Tigers and she proved to be Alcovy’s top option at returning and serving on Tuesday.
The serves proved to be the main decider in the second match as the Panthers came away with numerous aces while the Tigers gave away points on serving errors.
A string of points from Peachtree Academy’s Joseph and Kaleigh Prescott proved to be enough as the Panthers came away with a 25-18 win despite a late surge from the Tigers.
In the second and final set, the Panthers broke away to a 25-10 set win on the back of Eidson, who was responsible for half of the team’s points in the set,
Payton Scarbrough and Cecelia Smith also provided the Panthers with key points late in the match.
Eagles close it out with big wins over the Tigers
In the third and final match between county-rivals, the Eagles won handily with a pair of set wins that both finished with a 25-6 final score.
Multiple Tigers go into the mix with the scoring, but the Eagles leaned on Celene Harris, who helped Eastside scored eight points off her serves early into the match.
The second set proved to be more of the same as Eastside’s Kylee Petree led a string of points for the Eagles to secure another big win at home.
What’s Next
The Eagles moved to 7-15 with the wins on Tuesday, and the team will begin region play against Cedar Shoals and North Oconee(host) on Thursday, Sept. 11.
For Alcovy, the losses dropped them to 0-8 on the season ahead of its region opener against Habersham Central on Thursday, Sept. 11.
The Panthers moved to 6-12 with the split and will take on Killian Hill Christian in a region matchup on Thursday, Sept. 11.
