DANVILLE – The Dig Pink Tournament of Champions had a definite Elite Eight feel Saturday with a field filled with some of the state’s powerhouse volleyball programs.
Winston County won the championship division title with a win over Plainview, while Danville won the gold division with an impressive win over Class 5A power Muscle Shoals. Boaz and Hatton won the other two division titles.
Twenty of the 24 teams entered in the tournament were ranked last week in the weekly Birmingham News’ prep volleyball poll.
Danville went 1-1 in pool play, opening with a 25-11, 25-16 loss to Plainview.
The fifth-ranked Lady Hawks rebounded to beat Piedmont – ranked 10th in Class 3A – 25-14, 25-13.
Danville dropped a 25-12, 25-16 decision to Winston County before reeling off wins over West Morgan 25-20, 25-21 and Albertville 25-14, 25-17.
The Lady Hawks took care of Muscle Shoals 25-16, 21-25, 15-4 in the gold finals.
Lindsay Simmons and Ashley Nance had 59 and 54 kills respectively for Danville in the six matches.
Kaitlin Wallace added 125 assists and 10 aces, while Sydni Shelton finished with nine blocks. Nance also had seven blocks.
Lacey Evans had 35 digs and Morgan Doherty added 20 digs. Jada Callahan chipped in eight aces for the Lady Hawks.
Hartselle went 3-2 in the tournament with four of the five matches against ranked teams.
The Lady Tigers opened up pool play with a 27-25, 25-11 loss to No. 4 ranked Madison County in a match played at Hartselle’s Pettey Center.
Hartselle rebounded to beat unranked Boaz 25-23, 25-14 and added a 25-19, 25-22 over rival Muscle Shoals, ranked third in Class 5A right behind the Lady Tigers last week.
In championship bracket play, Hartselle beat Good Hope 25-15, 25-18 to reach the championship of their division.
Plainview, ranked second in Class 3A, ended Hartselle’s day with a 28-26, 15-25, 16-14 thriller.
Plainview went on to finish second in the championship division after losing to Winston County in the finals.
Olivia Golden had 39 kills, 11 aces, six blocks and 41 digs in the tournament for the Lady Tigers, who came out of the tournament with a 32-16 record.
Savanne Howard had 56 assists, while Elizabeth Russell added 50 assists and six aces.
Chelsea Bennich had a team-high 77 digs. She also finished with three kills and five aces.
Katelynn Hill had 23 kills and a team-high 12 blocks.
The Lady Tigers also got 15 kills from Katie Clark, while Kaylee Shelton and Taylor Lybarger added 12 and 11 kills respectively.