South Effingham made it a trifecta Monday, winning high school, junior varsity and middle school volleyball matches at All Effingham Day at Effingham County High School.
The Lady Mustangs varsity squad defeated its cross-county rival Effingham 25-16, 25-21, 25-17.
SEHS coach Eric Harris was pleased with his team’s play.
“They played very well,” he said. “We did everything we should do. We passed the ball well, hit the ball and played our offense.”
Missy Ray led the Lady Mustangs with nine aces and five kills.
Alyssa Cave, however, led the team in kills with eight.
Other key South Effingham players included Brittany Davis with seven aces, Tiffany Dean with nine assists, Tiffany Monroe with six assists and Dallas Griffin, Amanda Boyett and Olivia Meeks each with seven digs.
Despite being swept in all its matches thus far this season, the Lady Rebels are improving.
“We have shown improvement from day one,” ECHS head coach Mike Baczynski said. “We’re passing better and are playing better, but we are making too many errors and that’s what’s keeping us from being very competitive right now.”
The event started with Ebenezer Middle School downing Effingham County Middle school 25-13, 25-13.
Next, the South Effingham Middle School Mustangs took the court and edged the Ebenzer Eagles in the first game 25-23 and finished them off with a 25-16 win.
SEMS completed the middle school sweep, defeating the ECMS Lady Panthers 25-9, 25-8.
Harris likes what the future of the Mustang volleyball program holds.
“It’s great seeing (SEMS) Coach (Jeff) Faith doing all the stuff he does with them,” he said. “Having them use all three hits to try to progress the ball over and how he has them hustling and serving the ball well. He is pushing them to understand their positions and that will make it much easier for me.”
Regarding the event, both Baczynski and Harris were pleased.
“Overall the event as a whole went very well,” Baczynski said. “They got to see a lot of volleyball and we were able to expose some of the middle school kids to high school volleyball, and overall the girls had a lot of fun.”
“It’s always fun to play here and in front of a big group of fans,” Harris said. “I was pleased with the turnout, but I wish more of the middle schoolers would have stayed.”
