Mike Hutchens
Communications Director
Gibson County handed Union City its first district volleyball loss of the season and moved into a tie with the Lady Tornadoes for the 13A lead with a 3-1 victory over UC on Tuesday night.
Both teams have one loss in league play and have now split the season series after GC avenged the Lady Twisters’ earlier 3-2 win vs. the Pioneers.
Union City is now 16-4 overall and 9-1 in district play heading into Thursday’s home varsity doubleheader against Halls that is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m.
The Lady Tornadoes missed out on a chance to take undisputed control in 13A vs. Gibson County on Tuesday as they squandered big leads in Games 2 and 4 and committed a whopping 73 errors in the match.
“Having 73 errors in a match obviously makes it very difficult to be successful,” UC head coach Jessica Graham said afterward. “In order for us to accomplish our goals and come out on the winning side of big matches like this, we have to cut way down on our number of errors.
“I do believe that playing in big matches like this is good for us heading into the postseason and shows us what we’ll need to do over the next couple of weeks to be successful at the most important time of the year.”
Union City fought off five set points before dropping Game 1, 27-25.
The Lady Tornadoes then squandered a five-point lead in Game 2, allowing the visitors to score the last six points to win 25-23.
UC led virtually the entire third game and by as many as six before claiming a 25-22 triumph to get within 2-1 when Gracie Sims pounded one of her 19 kills. And the Twister girls seemed to be in prime position to force a deciding set by racing to a 14-5 advantage in Game 4 after scoring the first six points with Addison Carr serving.
But Gibson County tallied 10 of the next 11 points to forge a 15-all deadlock and then had a 7-2 surge to lead by as much as 22-17. Union City clawed back to within two points twice, but the Lady Pioneers ultimately prevailed 25-21.
Graham singled out the play of Sims and Crickett Washburn in the contest, saying, “Those two really stepped up tonight as our hitters. They were able to make some big plays happen.”
Sims added six saves, five digs, and four aces to her stat total in addition to her 19 kills. Washburn had seven kills.
Carr finished with 11 digs, seven saves, and a half-dozen service aces, while Ca’Lae Ervin ended up with six kills and five saves. Madie Theobald recorded 29 assists, came up with eight saves, and had the fewest errors of the UC starters.
Clare Atwill was credited with nine digs.
HIGH SCHOOL CROSS COUNTRY
Five and counting.
The Union City boys’ team won its fifth consecutive meet on Tuesday, besting 26 other teams for first place in the Huntingdon Invitational.
The Tornadoes had four runners claim medals with top-20 finishes in the 3.1-mile race, which drew 190 participants.
Woodrow McKinnis (17:29) finished eighth, one place ahead of Rushdon Howell (17:41). Madix Turner (18:29) came in 15th, while his brother, Miloh, was clocked at 18:46 to earn 17th place.
Owen Waggoner (35th), Bryce Daniels (40th), Camden Watts (69th), and Wrigley Harder (79th) also competed for the Purple and Gold.
UC performers Ainsley Sadler and Ainsley Beard also continued their streak of solid efforts in the girls’ race with medal-winning efforts.
Sadler (22:31) was 13th and Beard (23:11) placed 15th among 128 female participants in the event.
Hadlee Duncan finished 35th.
Union City will next compete at Trinity Christian Academy in Jackson on Sept. 30.