Valley bounces back, LaFayette preps for postseason
BY DANIEL SCHMIDT
THE LAFAYETTE SUN
VALLEY — In a rare 1 p.m. ET start for a volleyball match, Valley High School made the most of a packed crowd and electric atmosphere.
With the bleachers filled with Valley students, the Lady Rams (6-5) swept LaFayette High School (0-7) 3-0 on Oct. 1 at VHS Ram Gymnasium.
Valley won Set 1 25-5, Set 2 25-17 and Set 3 25-8.
The match was part of a midday event at the school, with Valley students and teachers also squaring off in several friendly matches against each other.
The win was a welcome bounce-back for Valley, which was coming off a 3-0 road loss at Beauregard on the Hornets’ senior night Sept. 29.
“I’m pretty sure they feel pretty confident, as they should,” Lady Rams head coach Demia Mitchell said. “Of course, the game before it was kind of disappointing or saddening for them, but I feel like they feel pretty good about the comeback. We do as well.”
The midday start meant much of the student body was on hand, and Mitchell said the support made the win even sweeter.
“It feels great,” Mitchell said. “We got the whole school here. It feels very supportive. It just feels all-around great.”
Valley’s Gracyn Melton said the crowd added some pressure, but also made the payoff bigger.
“It’s really nerve-wracking, but at the same time, every success feels like 10 times better,” Melton said. “You see people watching you, you feel good. It’s a really fun experience.”
Melton added that the Lady Bulldogs, along with Lanett High School, are one of the Lady Rams’ biggest rivals.
“It’s a really fun game, just having the students so involved,” she said. “It feels good to win.”
Though LaFayette came up short against Valley, Lady Bulldogs head coach Megan Agee said she was proud of how her team competed in a hostile environment against a Class 4A team.
“Even though the score was terrible that first game, I saw way more hustle in them than I’ve ever seen all year,” Agee said of her Class 1A team. “So I was really proud of them in that game.”
Agee also tipped her cap to the Lady Rams’ student section.
“I’ve got to give Valley a lot of credit with the students,” Agee said. “They at least pay attention and watch the game. They heckled a little bit, and that’s all in fun.”
With the area tournament roughly two weeks away, Agee said she hopes the match shows her players what they are capable of.
“Hopefully, it just shows them that if we can limit minor mistakes, we can at least contend,” Agee said. “That’s how I want to go out — contending, no matter what. At the end of the day, just go out on a high note, give it your all and leave it out there.”
LaFayette travels to Woodland High School at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 8.
Valley faced Elmore County High School on the road on Oct. 6. That result was not available before the Sun’s Tuesday press deadline. Valley will travel to Seale to take on Russell County High School on Wednesday, Oct. 7, at 6:30 p.m. ET.
“We just need to redeem ourselves,” Mitchell said. “We’re looking forward to that redemption.”
Mitchell said the team needs to treat both matches as a chance to sharpen up before the area tournament.
“We pretty much need to use them as not necessarily practice, but a moment to literally get better and get prepared outside of practice,” Mitchell said. “We need to treat both of them like we’re ready to end on a good note.”
Melton said the win over the Lady Bulldogs gave Valley exactly what it needed heading into the stretch run.
“This game has really just built our confidence, and it gives us more in-game experience and reps in general,” Melton said. “We’ve worked really hard, and we’ve studied, and we’re ready to beat these teams and win the area.”
