Colquitt County High's Regan Harden plays the volleyball during the first home match in the Packer program history. It was a 3-1 win against Mitchell County.

MOULTRIE – Anybody who wants to see a work in progress at Colquitt County High athletics, look at the play on Tuesday at C.A. Gray’s gym. There, Packer volleyball was victorious for the first time in this inaugural season, 3-1 in a best-of-5 match against Mitchell County.

So far, coach Lindsey Smith and the Packers have five matches in the books, including the Aug. 21 opener at Mitchell. That was a 3-1 best-of-5 setback. The new team then dropped three (best-of-3s) in one day taking on the area 1-7A rivals Tift County, Lowndes and Camden County Saturday in Tifton.

As Tuesday’s rematch with the Eagles from Camilla progressed, play got tighter and tighter with the young athletes on each side coming through with hustling results. Spectators filed in to get a look at this sport, possibly for the first time live, and they got to see a load of serving aces and a lesson on some of the violations involved that came at crucial times.

Colquitt County won the first set 25-13 on the strength of the ace, and that’s only after the first point resulted from the set and kill, Regan Harden to Anna Roberts. When Harden, a Lady Packer soccer player, went to serve for the first time, she recorded three aces in a row for 7-1 Colquitt. Roberts had her turn serving and scored four in a row with the ace (12-2).

Harden’s only other assist in the set went to Cailynne Burroughs, who herself crushed a service ace. Emma Watley got credit for two aces when the Packer lead went to 18-7 and Smith then  substituted all six players. Among the new players, Josie Sellers and Nicole Perdomo had aces.

Up 1-0, things weren’t as productive in the second set as Colquitt County only enjoyed a brief lead when Burroughs began things with her toss, run and leaping serve.

Mitchell County led the rest of the way except for a few times when the Packers tied the score. AB Spencer leveled things with her first ace (6-6), but the miscommunication with the volleyball in play led to Smith calling her first timeout.

Behind Burroughs’ scoring hit, the Packers got back even only to fall behind again as much as three points. Burroughs capped a rally with an ace to wipe out that deficit, but the home team couldn’t sustain anything beyond that. Mitchell County ran off four points in a row to get a five-point cushion at 18-13, then consecutive aces from Spencer closed that gap to one.

Roberts’ hit to the back corner notched one more tie in the set, 21-21, and it would become a matter of who would get the two-point lead while reaching the 25-point mark.

The Eagles scored a key kill despite the strong hits over by Roberts, and at 23-22 they scored two straight to level the match 1-1.

The Packers cruised to a set 3 win 25-12 after jumping out to a 7-0 advantage. Watley was on serve for most of the run, and Harden earned another assist to Spencer.

When Mitchell regained serve, some rocket shots led to four straight points. But Harden scored the sideout at a corner and proceeded to pound three aces in a row. Burroughs stood with her side to the net, and with a tap she put the Packers up 13-7. Burroughs continued to make plays, as did Harden with an assist to Roberts that doubled up Mitchell 22-11.

With Roberts’ backline ace and Bella Sellers’ successful battle at the net, Colquitt went into the fourth set up 2-1.

This set required a lot of work, for the Eagles at times looked prime to pull it out and take the match to a deciding fifth set. But first, Bella Sellers and Spencer hustled to keep the volleyball alive in an early rally that staked their team to a 4-1 lead. Spencer later balled her hands into one big fist for a scoring hit and 6-3. Spencer’s connection with Shadasia Reynolds was not the smoothest, but it got the ball over and Colquitt up 9-4.

The Eagles stayed in their game, and with a service ace tied things at 14-all. That was part of a 4-0 run that switched the advantage to the visitors at 16-14. Harden found a sideline for the sideout that changed serve, and Spencer’s two aces regained the lead for Colquitt at 18-16.

After 40 rallies, things were tied again 20-20, and Spencer came up with a hit for yet another tie. But Mitchell found itself two points away from a set win at 23-21, and who would make the play but Spencer with her back to the net.

Each team was at set point but could not convert. Harden’s kill broke a 25-25 tie, and Colquitt would prevail 27-25.