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G.W. Long’s Sawyer Hughes (34) tips a shot as Ariton’s April Munn defends during a game in Ariton Thursday night.
Ariton’s Anya Allen sets up a shot during a game against G.W. Long in Ariton on Thursday night.
ARITON – Class 2A state volleyball powers G.W. Long and Ariton fought tooth-and-nail Thursday night at the Ariton gym in a classic battle between the two rivals, eventually being separated by only seven points over four sets.
Ultimately, G.W. Long’s ability to rally late in sets proved to be a slight difference in a razor narrow 25-22, 27-25, 24-26, 25-23 victory over the Purple Cats.
It marked the second close match between the two this season with the previous outcome also won by Long by a mere seven points during a three-set sweep in Skipperville.
Thursday’s win all but sealed the 2A, Area 4 regular-season title for the Class 2A sixth-ranked Rebels (13-5, 4-0). Long officially needs only to win one of the two matches Tuesday against Barbour County to clinch the area, something the ranked Rebels are heavily favored to do against the winless Jaguars.
Ariton, ranked ninth in the state poll, dropped to 18-2 overall and 2-2 with both losses coming against G.W. Long.
“That was a tough ball game,” G.W. Long head coach Craig Long said. “It is always tough to come over here and play them. They have a great team. Terry (Goodson) does a great job with them and they have a great crowd here. It is a great atmosphere for high school volleyball.
“We are just glad to come over here and get the win. We struggled at times and didn’t play clean as we had a lot of service errors and hitting errors, but the girls fought through when it counted.”
When it “counted” was at end of the sets. Ariton led the first set 19-18 and was up 20-17 in both the second and fourth sets before G.W. Long rallied to win all three. The Rebels broke a 22-22 tie with the final three points in the first set to win 25-22, trailed 25-24 in the second set before scoring the final three for a 27-25 win and was tied at 21 in the fourth set before scoring four of the last six points for a 25-23 win.
“Even when you are down or even playing bad, you still have to compete,” Craig Long said. “Our girls are resilient on that and keep pounding away.”
The Rebel head coach said part of that attitude comes from the success Rebel players have had in postseason in volleyball, basketball and softball in recent years – sports G.W. Long has competed in the state semifinals or state finals.
“Mental toughness is an edge we have had in the past five years in all three sports as our girls have become tough and have pushed hard,” Long said. “The girls learning how to compete, how to push through and how to win has helped them in all sports.”
From a volleyball perspective, Long said a late drill in practice has also developed the ability to come back late in matches.
“In practice, we play from behind a lot,” Long said. “I set up the score up where we have to come from behind most of the time, so the girls are used to it.
“We have a drill where they have to get to 23 and if they don’t get the 24th and 25th point, they have to go back to 20. That has changed how we practice and how we compete. It allows us to really compete really hard in practice. If they don’t win (get to 25), we have consequences for it.”
Those consequences, Long said, include “up/downs, run sprints and suicide runs” during practice.
“That has really helped us in tight games,” Long said of how the drills impacted his team’s performance.
The Rebels needed all of that mental toughness on Thursday against a talented and scrappy Purple Cat team.
“That is a tough team right there,” Long said. “They pushed us like crazy. They are scrappy and get after it. They play hard.”
Ariton head coach Terry Goodson said his team gave it all it had against the Rebels.
“I thought my girls played really hard and they played to the end,” Goodson said. “I thought they worked for every point, but Long was the better team to tell you the truth in certain situations. They did a better job of passing than we did, but our girls played hard and did a lot of good things.”
Though it led late in most sets, Ariton couldn’t close the deal except in the third set when it won 26-24.
“I think I have to do a better job of getting them ready for those moments like taking the pressure and handling the pressure,” Goodson said. “We have to be able to handle pressure in certain situations in order to get over this hump.”
G.W. Long, behind 5-foot-11 Miranda Smith and 5-foot-10 players Emma Claire Long, Ally Whitehead and Maleah Long, had dominating hitting. The four combined on 66 kills with Emma Claire Long with 26, Whitehead with 18, Smith 15 and Maleah Long seven. Smith also controlled play at the net with six blocks, while Whitehead and Maleah Long both had two blocks each. Setter Sawyer Hughes distributed 40 assists.
Whitehead and Emma Claire Long also excelled in the back row with 16 and 15 digs, respectively. Ainsley Watts, the libero, added eight digs.
Ariton was paced by 6-foo1-1 April Munn, who earned 10 kills and 10 blocks at the net and by 6-foot Kaydee Phillips, who had a team-high 13 kills, seven blocks and 23 digs. Hollis Cherry earned 23 assists and four digs. Blair Hughes had four kills and three digs, Maddie Grace Heath had three kills and six digs, while Reese Peters had four aces and six digs. Nya Allen added two kills and six digs and Caitlyn Webb chipped in six digs.
Ariton opened up a 6-2 lead in the first set behind a kill each from Allen and Phillips, but the Rebels battled back for an 10-8 lead, taking advantage of several free ball opportunities at the top of the net for slam-down kills as well sets by Hughes for kills.
The Purple Cats rebounded to take a 19-18 lead on a couple of Rebel hitting errors. It was tied at 22 after a Phillips block for Ariton when Smith earned a block for Long, Ariton hit a shot into the net and Smith added an ace to give Long a 25-22 win.
The Rebels seized an 11-6 lead in game two but the Purple Cats battled back and eventually took a 20-17 advantage. Long reclaimed the margin at 21-20 on consecutive kills by Emma Claire Long, but Ariton hung tough and moved to set point twice at 24-23 and 25-24 on blocks by Munn.
The Rebels, though, scored the final three points, last two off a Whitehead cross court kill from the back row to the far right corner and a block by Maleah Long, for a 27-25 win.
In the third game, Ariton led most of the set and opened an 18-13 advantage on a kill by Heath before Long came back to tie it at 20 behind an ace from Maleah Long and a Whitehead kill.
It was tied at 24 following a kill by the Rebels’ Emma Claire Long, but Ariton’s Munn answered with a kill to put the Purple Cats back in front before the Rebels hit an attack into the net on the next play to give Ariton a 26-24 win.
The final set also came down to the end. Long led 24-23 when Whitehead earned a kill off a Hughes set to finish off the set and the match.
Ariton wins junior high: Ariton won the junior high match Thursday over G.W. Long, 25-15, 25-15.
G.W. Long takes JV: G.W. Long captured the junior varsity contest, 25-22, 25-13.
For Ariton, Mary C. Lowery had 12 assists, Laney Deloney had five kills and Madison Guilford had three kills.
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G.W. Long’s Sawyer Hughes (34) tips a shot as Ariton’s April Munn defends during a game in Ariton Thursday night.
Ariton’s Anya Allen sets up a shot during a game against G.W. Long in Ariton on Thursday night.
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