Sandy Creek and Whitewater to meet again - this time to go to state finals

Sandy Creek made the AAAA final four on Thursday and then waited all weekend to see who they would be seeing there. It turns out, they will meet some familiar faces in the state semifinals.

The Lady Patriots will take on Whitewater at Marist on Thursday at 5 p.m.

Last Thursday, Danelle Smith led the team with 27 kills, while Jennifer Dunn had 25 and Chanelle Smith had 21. Cheri Smith led the team with 56 assists, eight digs and five aces, Estefania Diaz had 24 assists and two aces, Samantha Bryan had 15 assists, five digs and four aces and Chanelle Smith had 14 aces, 16 digs and 4.5 blocks,  Katie Davenport and Dunn each had 10 aces. For defense, Chanelle Smith had 16 digs, Mallie Haumann 15, Davenport 13 and Dunn had 12. 

Whitewater advanced to the final four with wins over Jonesboro (25-19, 25-20, 25-16), Lithia Springs (25-17, 25-12, 25-11), and Sequoyah (25-27, 25-16, 26-24, 25-20).
“Our Seniors really stepped up in the match against Sequoyah with Charmaine Kehoe and Brittany Woods having 16 kills each. Senior Camille Butler led the ‘Cats defensively with 21 digs and senior setter Anna Wilson had 40 assists against Sequoyah,” said head coach Ben Thacker.

Sophmore Helen Menchinger had 15 kills while fellow sophomores Kaylee Kehoe had six kills and Jasmine Reese had three kills. Other Wildcats got in on the defensive effort with Charmaine Kehoe getting 20 digs and one block, Woods had 13 digs and 3.5 blocks, Menchinger with 16 digs and a block, Kaylee Kehoe with 16 digs and Jasmine Reese had 2.5 blocks.

The wins by Sandy Creek and Whitewater sets up a rematch of the Area 3-AAAA final which Sandy Creek won. The Lady Patriots have faced the Lady Wildcats three times this season and have won all three matches.

McIntosh’s Lady Chiefs nearly made the state semifinals but lost to Marist in the final match of the day on Saturday (25-18, 25-14, 25-22). Prior to the match against Marist, McIntosh had beaten Ola (25-11, 25-9, 25-18) and Brunswick (25-17, 25-9, 25-11).

The other local teams played their games on Thursday.
Sandy Creek’s Lady Patriots went 3-0 on the first day of the state tournament.

Sandy Creek defeated Forest Park (25-8, 25-2, 25-8), Lee County (25-14, 25-17. 25-10) and Dalton (25-11, 27-25, 25-12) to make the state semifinals.

Starr’s Mill’s Lady Panthers beat Dutchtown (21-25, 25-10, 25-14, 25-18) but lost to Chamblee in the next round (25-14, 25-16, 22-25, 25-20).

In the Class AA/A tournament, Landmark Christian defeated Buford (25-15, 25-8, 25-20) and Savannah Country Day (25-13, 25-22, 17-25, 25-20) before falling to Lovett (25-23, 19-25, 25-16, 30-28).

Our Lady of Mercy’s Lady Bobcats lost to Decatur in the opening round (25-16, 23-25, 25-16, 25-10). Olivia Schmitz led the team with seven kills and nine digs, while juniors Katie Ludvigsen added 12 digs and five aces and Sam Morris chipped in eight digs and four blocks. Freshman Ashlyn Bodkin had nine digs and three aces and senior Emma Walker had seven digs.