By Shannon Fagan, WEIS Sports Director

SPRING GARDEN – The Spring Garden Lady Panthers are headed back to Hoover.

They easily dispensed with Woodville on Monday, earning a sweep in their best-of-five Class 1A North Volleyball sub-regional match. The scores were 25-8, 25-10 and 25-11.

“Overall, I’m proud of how far they’ve come this year,” Spring Garden first-year head coach Madison Bates said. “I think we’ve got a great chance to make it back to state.”

There’s good reason for Bates to think that.

The Lady Panthers (27-18) have returned the majority of their lineup from last season. With a year more experience, they’ve seen a 13-match win improvement since last year so far.

Now the next step for Spring Garden to make it back to state begins Thursday at the Finley Center at 11 a.m. The Lady Panthers will take on Sulligent, which outlasted Lynn in five sets in other sub-regional action on Monday.

While the Lady Panthers have improved since last season, Bates still sees even more “room for improvement” before Thursday.

“We’ve definitely come a long way, but we still have some moments where it’s like ‘Why are we still doing those things?,’” Bates said. “I think we came out focused (Monday night), but we lost focus at the start of the second set. We weren’t as clean hitting-wise as we have been. We’ll have to get in tomorrow and clean some of that up.

“(Setter) Lleyton (Carroll) has been doing a better job of putting the ball where it needs to be for our hitters. Our timing is good, but we’re just a little late on it.”

Aubrey Kelley led the Lady Panthers against Woodville with 12 kills, seven digs, two aces and an assist. Addie Word added seven kills, four aces and a dig. Carroll contributed 32 assists, a dig and an ace.

Kylie Bates came away with eight kills and a dig. Maya Jennings delivered four kills. Hayden Parris had a kill and a dig. Carmen Truss earned a kill and a block.

Lacie Jo McMurray and Anna Mae Griggs both managed two digs and two aces apiece. Addie Smith and Lily Kate Ward both finished with two digs.

“I think the fact that these girls have been (to the North Regional) before, to go down there last year and play in that atmosphere, means a lot,” Bates said. “You’ve got to be down there and play in it to get that experience. This year I think they’ve got a great chance to make it even farther.”