Colquitt setter Jadyn Rasberry

MOULTRIE – With a 13-point streak in the opening set, top seeded Camden County High went on to roll past the Colquitt County High Packers 3-0 Tuesday. It was a match that started the Region 1-7A volleyball playoffs on William Bryant Court, and at the same time Tift County defeated Lowndes High, putting the Wildcats of Kingsland in the finals with the Blue Devils from Tifton.

In Colquitt’s efforts, the hosts won the first points of all three sets. For the opener, it was lone senior Eknadia McIntyre with a kill in the middle. Though Camden scored the next five in a row, the Packers crawled back to within two. Setter Jadyn Rasberry set Autumn Hampton, another threat in coach Ron Fowler’s middle, for a sideout kill, and with serve going to Grace McKee, she scored an ace for 7-5 Camden.

The Wildcats immediately switched serve back their way placing a ball just inside the line. From there, it was 12 more points with a mis-hit error from Colquitt preceding four straight service aces. The streak ended with a fifth ace and 20-5 score. Camden went on to take the set 25-6.

The Packers not only scored first in the second set, but pulled off three rallies in a row with Sarah Beth Glass on serve. She notched her first ace of the day, and Hampton blocked Colquitt to a point. The hosts were able to maintain the advantage until a hitting error tied the set 4-4.

But with McKee on serve, and Rasberry setting Hampton’s kill, Colquitt held its biggest lead of the match at 8-4. Camden, however, tied the score 9-9 and hit aces both in the middle of the court and inside the back line. The Packers were down five, 16-11, when McIntyre scored on the block. Camden recovered to build a seven-point lead, 20-13. Hampton and McKee scored kills, but that couldn’t stop the Wildcats from reaching set point at 24-17. Hampton added two more points (with one more assist to Rasberry) before her team fell 25-19 and 2-0 in the match.

Multiple times in the third set, Camden was able to dig out multiple attacks from Hampton in the same rally. It got them on a 5-0 run (after falling behind 1-0), but when serve switched over to Colquitt Kennedy Fillyaw served consecutive aces. With those points plus a blocking score by Hampton, the Packers got as close as a single point but never back out in front.

On another rally featuring two digs against Hampton, Camden pushed ahead with five straight 11-5. The Wildcats were successful not only keeping the volleyball in play on their side, but hitting to open spaces and scoring past blocks. They had two runs of four straight to lead by 11, and dug out two more Hampton hits in making the score 21-11.

The Packers put some plays together in the end, one being Rasberry’s assist to McKee and three aces served by Fillyaw. In the end, it was Camden’s set and match 25-16.