The Lady Eagles started the day with a two-set loss to Lakeside-DeKalb (25-23, 27-25), then took straight-set wins over Allatoona (25-14, 25-22) and Kennesaw Mountain (25-10, 25-18) before closing things out with a straight-set loss to Northview (25-18, 25-17).
All four of Etowah’s opponents were playoff teams last fall, with Lakeside and Allatoona quarterfinalists in their respective classifications.
“It was a good day,” Etowah coach Kim Robertson said. “The kids got some playing time, and they were able to pick up their skill level as the day went on. Our serving was pretty strong. The kids did a good job serving the ball.”
Carlie Gilbert was a perfect 38-for-38 from the service line and had three aces and 11 kills for Etowah (6-5). Allie Elson (33-for-34 serving, five aces, seven digs), Allison Knight (16-for-16, two aces, seven kills), Jenna Lea (20-for-21, three aces, 18 kills, nine digs), Taylor Kimber (24-for-26, two aces, nine kills, three blocks) and Chelsea Brady (21-for-23, two aces, 39 assists) were the other standouts for the Lady Eagles.
Etowah bounced back in a big way from its opening loss to Lakeside, jumping out to a 13-2 lead in the first set of its match with Allatoona.
The Lady Eagles were fueled during that run by a couple of aces by Elson, an ace by Knight and a couple of kills by Lea.
Allatoona was only able to close the gap a little bit as Etowah stayed in control the rest of the way to win the first set.
It appeared that it would be all Etowah once again in the second set as the Lady Eagles once again used accurate serving and aggressive net play to jump out to a 10-3 lead.
The Lady Eagles appeared to have the set — and the match — wrapped up with a 16-8 edge, but Allatoona stormed back with an 8-0 run to even the set up at 16-all.
But Allatoona couldn’t able to take control as Etowah held off the Lady Buccaneers and maintained a slight advantage the rest of the way to complete the two-set sweep and take the win.
“Allatoona is very athletic,” Robertson said. “I think the kids served very well against them and played a good overall match. Allatoona had a couple of service runs, but we were able to hold them off.”
It was more of the same for Etowah in its next match with Kennesaw Mountain.
Etowah once again used its strong service game to pull out to a 13-3 lead in the first set, and the Lady Eagles were never seriously threatened on their way to the 25-10 opening-set win.
Kennesaw Mountain took the early advantage in the second set as the Lady Mustangs used two kills from Bri Nation and a kill from Jocelyn Mahayag to jump out to a 4-1 lead over the Lady Eagles.
It was all Etowah after that, however, as the Lady Eagles bounced right back to even the score at 4-all, and they proceeded to turn a 6-all tie into a 15-6 lead after a 9-0 run to take control of the match.
“Our starting rotation played very well,” Robertson said. “We were able to get all of our kids in the match and get all of our kids some playing time.”
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