Staff Reports

SAND ROCK – Class 2A, No. 6 Sand Rock outlasted Class 3A, No. 4 Westbrook Christian and Class 1A, No. 2 Spring Garden, both in three sets, at home on Thursday.

The Lady Wildcats defeated Westbrook 25-17, 19-25 and 15-12, then ended Spring Garden’s 30-match winning streak with a 25-20, 15-25, 15-11 victory to improve to 38-15 on the season.

“We had good energy tonight,” Sand Rock coach Lisa Bates said. “Our bench was amazing. We had some young ladies step up and fill some roles we needed. I was proud of our intensity and fire.”

Katelyn St.Clair led the Lady Wildcats with 39 kills, 20 digs and three aces. Rylin St.Clair delivered 63 assists and four aces. Bethany Davis accounted for 15 kills and 24 digs. Zoey Handy had 10 kills and four blocks. Chloe Stephens finished with 49 digs.

“We just played our hearts out together tonight,” Bates said. “Westbrook beat us earlier in the year, so we really wanted to beat them. With Spring Garden, we did better with winning the long rallies. They made some uncharacteristic mistakes that helped us on some runs.

“It’s a good feeling to know we can play like this right in time for postseason. Spring Garden is a very solid team, so this was a big night for our confidence heading into (area tournament) next week.”

Sand Rock closes out the regular season at Cherokee County High School’s Block Out Cancer tournament on Saturday. The tournament begins at 9 a.m. and also features Westbrook Christian, Brindlee Mountain, Glencoe, Jacksonville, White Plains and Fairview.

Spring Garden (40-4) is in also in a tournament on Saturday at Supreme Courts in Guntersville.