BAINBRIDGE – The hunt started for a third consecutive Section IV Class D Volleyball title Tuesday night for the second-seeded Bobcats. Taking down the seventh seed Oxford Blackhawks 3-0 in Tuesday’s quarterfinal match, hosted by Bainbridge-Guilford, the defending champions moved one step closer.
The Lady Bobcats came out in the first set on fire, jumping out to a 7-1 lead. Continuing to cruise to a game one win, B-G’s Erica Selfridge’s serving aided in the home team’s 17-3 advantage.
Oxford’s head coach Kim Martin called a timeout to pull her team together when the Bobcats held a 20-4 margin. The regrouping didn’t work at the moment as Bainbridge-Guilford finished out game one with a final score of 25-4.
Martin’s talk between game one and two did, however, pull her team back in as they fought at the start of the second set. The two teams went back-and-forth, presenting stingy defense to not allow a huge deficit like the first game.
While the Bobcats pulled ahead 13-7, Oxford was determined to get back into the match after their slow start and the two teams continued to battle for points.
Bainbridge-Guilford pulled away for good, gaining a 2-0 lead in the match before going on to win the third game 25-5. In the final set, B-G went on a 10-0 run and never looked back.
Selfridge once again had a big night, finishing with nine kills, nine aces, five assists and one block.
The Bobcats had a great night from the service line, Sasha Lamoree and Taylor Parsons combined for an additional 17 aces in the match. Lamoree finished with eight aces and set up 12 scoring plays while Parsons added four kills to her stat line.
Teammate Makenna Clark also recorded four kills in the win and libero Bree Barber came away with two digs for Bainbridge-Guilford.
Madalyn Barrows, who had a big part in keeping Oxford within reach during the second set, had three digs along with two kills and an ace to lead the team in the loss.
Daysha Simpson also had two kills for the Blackhawks and both Olivia Kelsey and Mallory Olsen-Nichols had an ace in the match. Olsen-Nichols also had two assists while Lilie Horton recorded a team-best four digs for the Blackhawks.
The Bobcats, who have hosted the four-team semifinal pool play the past two seasons, will travel to top-seeded Candor on Thursday. The two teams with the best record will move on to the championship match on Saturday at Corning Painted Post High School at 4 p.m.
The young Oxford club closes their season at a final record of 8-5.
Bainbridge-Guilford 3, Oxford 0
25-4, 25-17, 25-5
Oxford: Madalyn Barrows 1 ace, 2 kills, 3 digs; Olivia Kelsey 1 ace; Mallory Olsen-Nichols 1 ace, 2 assists; Daysha Simpson 2 kills; Lilie Horton 4 digs.
Bainbridge-Guilford: Sasha Lamoree 8 aces, 12 assists; Erica Selfridge 9 aces, 5 assists, 9 kills, 1 block; Makenna Clark 4 kills; Taylor Parsons 6 aces, 4 kills; Bree Barber 2 digs.