Hawks Season Ends in CCS Semifinal

LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN, Ga.- Huntingdon Volleyball (14-19 Overall, 11-6 CCS), was defeated in the CCS Championship tournament semifinals by the Maryville Scots (18-16 overall, 12-5 CCS), 3-2.

Maryville walked away with the first set, winning 25-18. The Scots jumped out to an early 7-3 lead, taking advantage of 4 Huntingdon errors along the way. The Hawks bounced back strongly though, tying the set at 14 behind two kills from Molly Wilson. From this point, Maryville would go on a 7-1 scoring run,putting the Scots ahead 21-15, creating a gap Huntingdon could not close.

Maryville also took the second set 25-14. Similar to the first set, the Scots came out strong, taking a 6-2 lead early on, which eventually grew to a 13-6 lead. A kill from Eva Ellenburg would cap off a 3 point Huntingdon run, shrinking the deficit to 14-9, but the Hawks could not battle back. The Scots scored 13 kills on the set, limiting Huntingdon to 8 of their own.

Not to be outdone, Huntingdon stole the third set from the Scots 31-29. The battle started off with a commanding 10-6 lead from the Hawks early on. Kennedy Chambers, Eva Ellenburg, and Izzy Valldeperas led the Hawk's attack, each earning kills.Taking advantage of errors from the Scots, Huntingdon found themselves with an 18-11 lead following a service ace from Ashlen Janowski. Down 23-21, Maryville would go on a 4-1 run, taking a late 25-24 lead on the Hawks. A kill from Izzy Valldeperas put the Hawks down one at 28-27, and the Hawks took advantage of 3 errors from Maryville to win the set. Each team had over 50 total attempts in the set.

Riding their momentum, the Hawks defeated Maryville in the fourth set 25-13. Ashlen Janowski and Izzy Valldeperas led the Hawks to an early 5-1 lead, but this would not be their biggest run of the set. Leading 8-6, Huntingdon followed their strong start with a 6-1 run, extending their lead to 14-7 behind kills from Kennedy Chambers and Eva Ellenburg. With a 23-13 lead, kills from Ellenburg and Valldeperas closed the set, evening the match at 2.

In the tiebreaker set of the match, Maryville walked away victorious by a score of 15-10. Maryville opened up the set on a 4-0 run, and Huntingdon struggled to recover. 6 errors from the Hawks in the final set gave Maryville the final advantage, as they only committed 3 of their own.

This match eliminated the Hawks from the CCS Championship tournament, concluding their 2023-2024 indoor season. Be on the lookout for news for the upcoming beach volleyball season in the Spring.