AREA CHAMPIONS!

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The Lady Raiders got the job done tonight at Good Hope High School winning the AHSAA AREA 12 CHAMPIONSHIP defeating Hanceville 3 - 0 and Vinemont 3 -0.  Raiders are now 30 - 15.

Good Hope vs Hanceville

Kayla Johnson led the way with 10 kills, Good Hope had 25 total
Jorden York led with 5 aces, Elizabeth Hardin and Katie Windsor had 3 each, Good Hope had 16 total.

Game 1
Hanceville  9
Good Hope 25

Game 2
Hanceville  11
Good Hope 25

Game 3
Hanceville  10
Good Hope 25

Good Hope vs Vinemont

Kayla Johnson led the way with 13 kills, Elizabeth Hardin had 10, Good Hope had 46 total.
Katie Windsor had 4 aces, Brandi Hudson and Elizabeth Hardin had 3 each, Good Hope had 15 total.

Game 1
Vinemont    9
Good Hope  25

Vinemont    16
Good Hope  25

Vinemont    15
Good Hope  25

The Lady Raiders will travel to the winner of Area 9 Saturday for the Regionals.

Listen to the ARCHIVED VIDEO BROADCAST by clicking on Broadcast Schedule to the UPPER LEFT of this page.

GO LADY RAIDERS!!!


Johnny Thornton's take from CullmanSportsPage.com:

GOOD HOPE WINS ANOTHER VOLLEYBALL AREA CHAMPIONSHIP:

3A, Area 12 Tournament @ D.E. Ryan Gymnasium

Vinemont  9  16  15
Good Hope  25  25  25 

Good Hope wins championship series 3-0

Under the direction of Rosemary Brown, Good Hope claimed its 20th area championship Monday night on its home floor without losing a single set in assignments with Vinemont and Hanceville.
Since winning the Cullman County tournament on Oct. 1, the Lady Raiders have been on a tear with 12 victories in their last 14 assignments. Good Hope prepared for the area tournament by coming in second during the Cullman High School Pre-Area Tournament over the weekend, winning four matches before getting knocked off in the title bout to Winston County.

Each game went the way the Lady Raiders wanted it to, getting off to a fast start and forcing Vinemont to play catch up volleyball.
A 7-1 lead to open the first set with Ashlee Stanley scoring six straight points on serve set the tone for the Lady Raiders to move on and control the opener without Vinemont getting a chance to make a serious run.
Five points down the stretch by Elizabeth Hardin was vital with Kayla Johnson connecting on a couple of kills to finish off the Lady Eagles and Good Hope take a 1-0 lead in the best of five series.

Vimemont made a match of it in game two. With Shawnee Holder scoring on serve, coach Danielle Partain's Lady Eagles were down by the score of 7-5. Then Good Hope set sail to increase the lead to 20-15 and three kills from Katie Windsor gave the Lady Raiders the spark they needed to finish off the second half and put Vinemont in a must-win situation.

Behind solid serves from Stanley and Jordan York, Good Hope opened the third set with a 7-1 lead and was ahead moments later 13-5. Vinemont tried to get back in the battle and managed to narrow the margin to 17-11 when Johnson got a kill on the receiving side and another kill a few plays later that pushed the score to 21-12.
Johnson accounted for two kills and two blocks in the game with York accounting tor seven points on serve and Hardin giving support with a pair of kills near the net.

Freshman Jordan Melton came up with several big plays to give Vinemont a chance to fight hard in the match with Sydney Whittle, Janie Foust, Casey Copeland, Hannah Alexander and Cybil Tubbs showing effort in regards to serving and playing defense vs. Good Hope's heavy frontline hitters of Johnson, Hardin, Windsor and Kayla Elrod.

Good Hope is now 32-15 while Vinemont has an 11-12 mark going into the Region C Tournament this weekend at a site to be announced later.


ALL-AREA TEAM:
Selected by the coaches

GOOD HOPE - Brandi Hudson, Katie Windsor, Ashlee Stanley, Elizabeth Hardin, Kayla Johnson, Jordan York.

VINEMONT - Sydeny Whittle, Janie Foust, Casey Copeland


SEMIFINAL # 1:
Hanceville  9  11  10
Good Hope 25 25 25

The Lady Raiders needed about an hour to eliminate the Lady Bulldogs with the serving attack consistent from the start through the entire rotation. Good Hope scored 20 points from the service area in game and was very consistent in the final two games with Johnson playing well near the net and Stanley and York setting the tone for scoring plus good back line play by Hudson, Elrod and Windsor.


SEMIFINAL # 2:
J.B. Pennington   17  23  15
Vinemont  25  25  25


Vinemont came out with a good performance in the first set then had to work extremely hard in the second game to overcome a 10-2 deficit with Foust, Whittle, Copeland, Alexander and Tubbs leading the comeback.
Alexander, Copeland and Whittle got hot on serve in game three and put away the Lady Tigers after leading by only the score of 10-7 early in the encounter.


SPORTSPAGE ALL-PERFORMANCE TEAM:

From Monday's 3A, Area 12 Tournament:

GOOD HOPE:
Katie Windsor (Most Outstanding Performer)
Kayla Johnson
Ashlee Stanley
Elizabeth Hardin
Brandi Hudson


VINEMONT:
Janie Foust
Sydney Whittle
Hannah Alexander
Casey Copeland


J.B. PENNINGTON:
Breanna Glass
Caitlyn Goble
Shea South


HANCEVILLE:
Olivia Reid
Dominque Carraway
Madison Norman

Michael Cumming's article in the Cullman Times:

PREP VOLLEYBALL ROUNDUP: Raiders win Area 12 crown

By Michael A. Cummings  

GOOD HOPE - For two months, Good Hope High volleyball coach Rosemary Brown has watched her team show steady improvement.

After the two latest wins, she'll get to keep watching - only in the playoffs.

Good Hope took home the Class 3A, Area 12 championship with a pair of victories over Hanceville and Vinemont at its home gym on Monday. The Raiders (32-15) beat Hanceville in the first round before downing Vinemont 25-9, 25-16, 25-15 in the title game.

The area championship comes just two weeks after Good Hope reclaimed the Cullman County championship, and just two days after the Raiders finished second in a tournament hosted by Cullman.

So would Brown say her team is peaking at the right time?

"I think so. I hope so," she said. "We've been playing smart volleyball, looking for holes."

As the Area 12 champion, Good Hope will take one of the top seeds into Saturday's regional tournament, which will be hosted by the Area 9 winner. As runner-up, Vinemont will also be at the event, from which four teams will qualify for the sub-state round.

In Monday's championship game, Good Hope was led by Kayla Johnson, who posted 14 kills and two blocks. Elizabeth Hardin finished with 10 kills and two aces, while Jorden York had seven kills, two aces and six assists.

Ashley Stanley tallied 30 assists and three kills, while Brandi Hudson added 13 assists three digs and two aces.

Against Hanceville, the Raiders won 25-9, 25-11, 25-10 behind Johnson's eight kills. Katie Windsor recorded six kills and two aces, York had four kills and six aces and Stanley added 15 assists, three kills and three aces.

For Vinemont (11-12), Hannah Alexander had 13 assists, Shawnee Holder recorded six digs and Savannah Smith added five blocks.

• Vinemont 25-25-25, J.B. Pennington 17-23-15: Vinemont advanced to the championship match behind 11 kills by Sydney Whittle. Casey Copeland recorded 18 assists and three aces, Alexander had 20 assists and Sybill Tubbs added two digs.