HAMLET — The Hamlet Middle School girls’ volleyball team finished the regular season unbeaten after picking up four more conference wins earlier this week.
Head coach Alex Gardner and the Lady Red Rams improved to a perfect 12-0 following two victories each over Anson Middle School’s Orange and Blue teams. Hamlet opened with a 2- win over Anson Blue on the road Monday and won 2-1 in the second match. A day later, the Lady Red Rams returned and defeated Anson Orange in straight sets 2-0 in both games.
Winning set scores against the Blue Lady Bearcats were 25-20, 25-17 in the first match, and 20-25, 25-12 and 15-9 in the second match.
“Anson Blue had some great tips and solid bumping,” Gardner commented of the first match. “They were able to dig many of our attacks and had me worried in the second match.
“After losing the first set of the second match, I was afraid my girls would get down on themselves,” she added. “But they proved their strength and powered through the next two sets for the win.”
A strong serving game has been key this season for the Lady Red Rams. They racked up 26 aces against Anson Blue, seeing Katie Way lead the team with eight perfect serves. Also picking up aces were Ryelan Lyerly (six), Jenna Gardner and Orena Drake both had four, while Emma Altman and Christi Jacobs contributed two aces apiece.
Way also led the Lady Red Rams with eight kills on 20 attacks. Drake and Jacobs chipped in with four kills each, while Lyerly (three kills), Gardner (two kills) and Altman (one kill) rounded out the attack. Hamlet racked up seven total digs.
To close their week, the Lady Red Rams blanked Anson Orange behind set scores of 25-19 and 25-10 in the opening match, followed by scores of 25-9 and 26-24 in the second contest.
Again, 22 aces from the line helped Hamlet to the win. Lyerly had a match-high eight aces, while seeing Way chip in six more. Peyton Lowery had three aces, Gardner and Jacobs both finished with two and Drake added one.
Way had five kills, Lyerly and Jacobs notched three apiece, Gardner and Addy Hollingsworth both had two and Paige Goodman added one to the stat sheet.
Coach Gardner and company will get the rest of the week off as they sit atop the Southeastern Middle School Athletic Conference standings as regular season champions and prepare for the playoffs. They’ll pick play back up on Monday at 4 p.m. at home as the No. 1 seed against visiting Sandy Grove Middle School.
