By Donald Heath
Special for the Effingham Herald
SPRINGFIELD — Many of us learned in math class if A is greater than B and B is greater than C then A is greater than C.
On Thursday, Effingham County’s volleyball team did a number on that theorem.
The Rebels lost the day’s first match to St. Vincent’s, then watched Savannah Arts completely overpower the Saints in the second match.
So what happened when ECHS met Savannah Arts, the second-ranked Class AA team and a winner of 18 of its previous 19 outings?
The Rebels (10-4) may have played their best two sets of the season while rallying to defeat the Panthers 2-1 (22-25, 25-13, 15-9).
“I had a lot of conversations with the girls about giving 110 percent,” ECHS coach Brittany Lein said. “I think that was what it boiled down to. We were not across the board executing to the best of our ability at times. You have to go home at the end of the night and say (to yourself). ‘I gave 110 percent.’ ”
Senior middle blocker Cailin Pritchard may have given 120 percent. She dominated the frontline with 16 kills against Arts’ big hitters as the Rebels rebounded from the disappointing 25-17, 25-14 loss to St. Vincent’s.
ECHS dropped the first set to Savannah Arts but rallied from a seven-point deficit (17-10) to close within one twice (22-21 and 23-22) late to take some momentum into the second set.
Pritchard started the second set with a kill to give the Rebels their first lead of the day. Ansleigh Amory registered four straight service points and ECHS never let Arts string two points together.
In the decisive third set, sophomore Bella Scroggs had a kill from the backline to put the Rebels ahead 4-3 and later reeled off five straight service points (with two aces) to extend a 6-5 lead to 11-5. Pritchard added kills for the team’s 12th, 13th and 14th points and ECHS was on its way to a signature win.
“It’s a great confidence builder because we are a great team,” Lein said. “We’re stacked with juniors and seniors, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be great. Half these girls have been playing varsity since they were freshmen. They have to believe in themselves and do it.”
Saturday will be a key day for Region 2-AAAAAA volleyball play with all seven region schools gathering at South Effingham High School.
Both Effingham County and South Effingham (7-7) will play Grovetown, Evans and Lakeside in region matches.
CROSS COUNTRY
SEHS’ Phillips fifth in Jekyll Island meet
South Effingham junior Tyler Phillips ran a 16:35 to place fifth in the boys portion of the Jekyll Island Cross Country Invitational 2022 hosted by Brunswick High School on Saturday morning.
The SEHS boys finished ninth among 26 teams in the meet. South’s girls were eighth among 18 teams.
Scoring points for the Mustangs boys along with Phillips were: Julian Howard (14th, 17:10), Caiden Mason (51st, 18:39), Zane Bell (78th, 19:09) and Domenic Harrison (108th, 20:23).
Scoring points for the SEHS girls were: Magdeline Morgan (26th, 22:24), Patrica Backlund (46th, 23:30), Brianna Barber (56th, 24:02), Mia Fitzpatrick (62nd, 24:13) and Katherine Raley (89th, 25:42.).
Thomas, Maseda lead Rebel boys, girls in Statesboro
Effingham County’s Levi Thomas ran an 18:41 to place seventh in the boys race and Brooke Maseda led the Rebels’ girls with a 23:27 and an eighth-place finish at the Frazier-Hite Invitational in Statesboro on Thursday.
ECHS’ boys finished seventh among 21 teams. The Rebels’ girls were 10th among 14 teams.
Scoring points for the ECHS boys were Thomas, Robbie Velasquez (29th, 20:27), Tristan Kurtz (39th, 20:51), Ayden Wine (52nd, 21:37) and Brevin Bergman (62nd, 21:52).
Scoring points for the girls, Brooke Maseda, Ivey Rahn (48th, 29:53), Emma Maseda (62nd, 33:00), Emily Timms (67th, 33:55) and Ellie Forwood (68th, 34:04).
