ALL-STAR SPORTS WEEK: South closes out week with win in volleyball

Trinity's Isabel Hill and Auburn's Adalyn Lassiter were part of the South’s win over the North in the All-Star Volleyball match Thursday at the Cramton Bowl Multiplex. (Tim Gayle)

By TIM GAYLE

Isabel Hill wasn’t going to let a broken finger stop her from playing in the Alabama All-Stars Sports Week volleyball game.  

The Trinity senior libero broke the middle finger on her left hand during all-star practice Thursday morning.

“Since I’ve already done it four times, I was used to it,” she said. “I said, ‘It’ll be all right, I’ll just play the game and it’ll be fine.’ I just taped it up and was ready to go.”

Hill and her teammates went out and closed the week’s all-star competition with a flourish, rallying back from a deficit in the first set with a dominating performance in the final two sets to win 3-1 at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl on Thursday afternoon. 

“We were talking about it before the game, saying ‘Guys, we’ve got to redeem the South, we’ve got to win volleyball,’” Hill said. “After the first set, we were like, ‘oh no.’ But once we got it on and started clicking, we were like, ‘The South’s on top.’”

The North won the first set in surprisingly easy fashion, 25-13. There were no substitution patterns, no special performances that swung the momentum to the other side, just a mindset from a group of players that pulled away from a 15-15 tie in the second set and dominated the rest of the afternoon, winning 25-23, 25-8 and 25-12.

“We just clicked,” Hill said. “From then on, they couldn’t stop us.”

Hill contributed three digs in the win, while St. James Ava Card had a pair of kills. South most valuable player Chelsea Daffin of McGill-Toolen had 16 kills, nine digs and two assists, while Emma Moore had eight kills and six blocked shots and Heather Holtz had 21 assists and 10 digs.

For the North, Alayna Hattaway had 10 kills and nine digs, Brooklyn Hall had seven kills and two blocked shots and Taziya Harris had seven kills. Megan Jarrett of Bob Jones, selected as the most valuable player, had 15 digs and a pair of assists. 

Of the seven girls’ sports played during all-star sports week, the South rallied in the final inning to win softball but lost the other five games before winning on Thursday. Overall, the North won 10 of the 13 events, losing only in softball, boys’ basketball and volleyball. 

“I love this,” Hill said. “It was even sweeter the South came out on top, knowing all the other South teams didn’t come out on top. I made some of the best relationships. Some of these girls, we were talking about it and I’ll get to go watch them in college. They’re the sweetest girls. Not only was it fun on the court, but off the court. I’m so glad I had the honor to be selected to play.” 

27TH ALABAMA ALL-STARS SPORTS WEEK RESULTS

Monday

Girls golf – North 48.4-41-5 (North leads 3-1)

Boys golf -- North 55-35 (North leads 4-0)

Baseball – North 11-5, South 4-5 (North leads 23-16-3)

Tuesday

Girls cross country – North 70, South 84 (North leads 4-2)

Boys cross country – North 77, South 113 (North leads 4-2)

Girls tennis – North 8, South 1 (North leads 4-0)

Boys tennis -- North 6, South 3 (North leads 3-1)

Girls basketball – North 80, South 44 (North leads 23-3)

Boys basketball – South 81, North 79 (North leads 50-30)

Wednesday

Softball – South 3-6, North 3-5 (North leads 29-24-4)

Girls soccer – North 3, South 2 (North leads 18-3-1)

Boys soccer – North 6, South 3 (North leads 15-4-1)

Thursday

Volleyball – South 3, North 1 (North leads 15-10)