By Shannon Fagan, WEIS Sports Director

GAYLESVILLE – Already undermanned this volleyball season, the Cedar Bluff Lady Tigers entered Monday’s area match at Gaylesville with senior right side hitter/back row player Cece Davis out of their lineup.

Lady Tiger coach Deidra Cox relied on a pair of freshmen in outside hitter Jahleigh Dodd and middle hitter Devandria Moore to help fill Davis’s void. It took Cedar Bluff a while to shake a scrappy Gaylesville squad, but the Lady Tigers managed to sweep the Lady Trojans 25-22, 25-23 and 25-11.

Cedar Bluff followed its area opening match win up with a 25-8, 26-24 victory over Ragland to improve its record to 5-4 on the season.

“Neither match was pretty, but a win is a win,” Cox said. “They were very scrappy in both matches. I still like our hustle and effort, even when we get behind. We still found ways to come back.”

Cox commended the contributions Dodd and Moore made. Dodd finished the Gaylesville match with three digs and an ace. Against Ragland, she had a pair of digs.

“I thought they both stepped up and played well, especially for their first varsity matches,” Cox said. “There were a lot of pregame jitters going into an area game against Gaylesville, but we rebounded very well I thought to pull it out. They definitely helped us. The others, the more the match went on, figured out what they were going to have to do to secure the win. It just took a little while. There were a lot of things we could’ve done better tonight, but I think as the week goes on we’ll learn from tonight.”

Against Gaylesville, Paityn Walker led the Lady Tigers with 18 kills, an assist and an ace. Vana Martin managed 14 digs. Makayla Kimmons came away with seven digs. Marlee Timm tallied eight assists, five aces, three kills and a dig. Marley Horton had four kills. Piper Cromer contributed two kills and Jakirah Brown finished with a dig.

In the win over Ragland, Walker delivered seven kills and two assists. Timm managed five assists, a kill, an ace and a dig. Martin posted 11 digs and two aces. Kimmons delivered seven digs and two kills. Horton had two kills and Brown had two digs. Cromer finished with an ace.

Gaylesville rebounded from its loss to Cedar Bluff with a 25-14, 24-26, 15-1 win over Ragland to even its overall match record to 5-5.

Against Cedar Bluff, Chloe Collins came away with 16 assists, eight digs, two aces and a kill. Lydia Reynolds posted nine digs, seven kills, three aces and an assist. Bayleigh Ratliff collected six kills, two assists, an ace and a block. Abbie Bishop managed five kills, four blocks and a dig. Aubree Colbert contributed eight digs and three kills. Kya Green had two blocks and a kill. MaKenlee Young managed four digs and Charlee Sentell finished with three digs.

In the win over Ragland, Reynolds delivered eight digs, four kills and three aces. Collins contributed 13 digs, 10 assists, three kills and an ace. Young posted 14 digs and an assist. Ratliff accumulated eight digs, four kills, four aces and two assists. Colbert came away with four digs and two kills. Green came away with three blocks, a kill, a dig and an assist. Bishop had an ace and a block. Sentell finished with two digs.

First-year Gaylesville head coach Haley Bryson said she can see “huge improvement” in the Lady Trojans from last year.

“I’m really proud of how competitive they were the first two sets with Cedar Bluff. They were really fighting back,” Bryson said. “We made some errors we shouldn’t have, some missed serves that would’ve helped us out a lot. The third set they were down on themselves, but I’m proud of how they came back against Ragland and were able to win.

“I feel like last year when they got down they couldn’t come back from it. We’ve really been working on that this year. They have so much more energy on the court and that helps bring up their spirits when they are down.”

Cedar Bluff is at Collinsville on Tuesday at 5 p.m. Gaylesville hosts Spring Garden and Crossville, also on Tuesday beginning at 5:30 p.m.