Volleyball blasts Brooks on Senior Night
Oct. 4—becky.taylor@gaflnews.com
TIFTON — Senior Night was short and very sweet Monday, Oct. 3 for the Tift County Lady Devils.
Tift took care of visiting Brooks County in three quick sets, then honored the squad's four 12th graders, Heidi Robinson, Laurie Walters, Yanelis Tirado and Kylei Cutts.
"They mean a lot," said head coach Caleb Dawson of the four seniors. "They've been part of some really good teams and they've developed into a good crew." He said that while the group is a small one, they are close. All four have been part of the program for years, with Tiraldo transferring back this season. "They're good teammates," he said. "I'm going to miss that leadership."
Set scores were 25-8, 25-12 and 25-8. Brooks briefly earned a tie in the first two and all three had major surges by the Lady Devils to pull away.
Dawson's crew possibly set team records for aces. The Lady Trojans had difficulties returning the ball over the net and were only able to maintain a few rallies.
Raegin Walker started Tift on the right foot in all three sets, with at least one ace in every one of them as the initial server. The last set saw them jump ahead 11-0.
Abbie Lott, Alexis Lane, Tiraldo and Ava Thompson also all served at least one ace. In none of the sets did Tift rotate back around to Walker.
Brooks served an ace of its own in the opening set and briefly pulled to 4-4. But their next serve included a volley off the north face of the hanging scoreboard. Lott took over serving and Brooks did not get the ball back until it was 10-5. Soon the locals pulled further away.
Cutts, Walker and Jalaya Miller recorded kills, sending the score to 21-6. The set closed with the Lady Trojans unable to continue a rally.
The second set was also briefly close, tied 3-3 and 5-5. Brooks hung around a little longer at 8-6.
This time, Elli Warren and Walters were the key figures in the mid-set explosion, the count rocketing to 18-8. Miller finished it off with a spike.
There was no doubt as to the outcome in the final set. Walker piloted an 11-0 run. Brooks angled in a shot, then Tift was off again at 21-1. The energy was so much on the Lady Devils' side that even a rare misfire turned into a point. Brooks hit it back to Tift, but their initial hit started sailing towards the auxiliary gym, Walker tracked it down and moved the ball forward, but Ava Thompson still had to run far to get a single hand on it. The ball went over the net and Brooks could not get to it, bringing the score to 22-3.
It was a rare kill for Thompson, who spent the day admirably setting for her teammates.
Dawson had all four seniors on the floor for the last points.
Senior Night marked the end of Tift's regular season.
