Spain Park goes 3-2 at River City Rumble in Chattanooga – Shelby County Reporter

By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – The Spain Park Jaguars made the trip just over the Tennessee border to Chattanooga for a big weekend of volleyball at the River City Rumble, and they made a solid showing in the process.

Spain Park finished the Sept. 12 and 13 tournament with a 3-2 record, defeating the Clinton Dragons, Signal Mountain Eagles and St. George’s Gryphons and losing to the Silverdale Academy Seahawks and North Cobb Warriors.

The Jags started out the tournament with a Friday matchup against Tennessee’s Clinton. Spain Park got the early edge in the matchup thanks to a strong effort in the first set that turned into a victory.

The Jags won the first set by a score of 25-16, paving the way for more success in the second set.

From there, Spain Park continued to play well and finished out the match thanks to a second-set win, this time by a score of 25-19, to earn the 2-0 sweep.

Bea Wiggins led both teams with 10 kills for the Jags while Peyton Harrington had five kills and Ja’Niyah Mosley earned four kills and four total blocks.

Wiggins and Harrington each had eight digs while Camdyn Kyes secured six digs and Cailyn Kyes had 19 assists, three setter kills and four digs. Madden Scott also finished with four digs.

Spain Park carried that momentum into a match against Signal Mountain, but it needed the momentum to contend with an Eagles side that took it to the limit in the first set.

The Jags faced an extra-point battle with Signal Mountain in the first set thanks to a 24-24 tie, but they emerged victorious thanks to wins in the next two points. Spain Park finished the first set off in 26-24 fashion to grab the lead in the matchup.

After that, the Jags rolled to more success in the second set, avoiding another close set by establishing a double-digit lead and seeing off the result. Spain Park won the second set by a score of 25-14 to sweep the match.

Wiggins got 10 kills for the second-straight match while Harrington had six kills and six digs and Mosley and Chloe Shumate earned four kills and two aces. Wiggins also led the team in aces with three while Scott secured a pair of aces.

Camdyn Kyes came away with 15 digs as Wiggins added five digs to her stat line. Cailyn Kyes directed the offense with 20 digs and also had three digs and two kills.

Spain Park then had its toughest test of the tournament in the form of Silverdale Academy out of Chattanooga.

The Jags and Seahawks had a closely fought first set that eventually resulted in extra points. It took three rounds of extra points before Silverdale won two-consecutive points for the 28-26 first-set win.

After that, Spain Park made it another close affair in the second set, but the Jags couldn’t tie or take the lead in the final points. That meant the Seahawks won the second set by a score of 25-22 and sealed the straight-set win.

Wiggins had 11 kills and seven digs, Harrington grabbed eight kills and four digs, Camdyn Kyes had 16 digs, Mosley secured five kills and Cailyn Kyes finished with 21 assists, seven digs and two kills. Scott was the only person in the match with multiple aces.

Spain Park had another battle on deck with North Cobb out of Kennesaw, Ga. The Jags and Warriors were only narrowly separated during the first set, and like the opening set of the previous match, the Jags were just a couple of points away from victory.

However, also like the first set, Spain Park dropped the set, this time by a score of 25-23.

The Jags responded in a big way by evening up the matchup with a strong performance in the second set. Spain Park won the set in 25-20 fashion to set up a third and final set between the two teams.

The Jags fought hard in the final set, but the Warriors finished off the match with a 15-11 win in the third set.

Wiggins and Harrington got into double figures with 16 and 11 kills, respectively. Mosley contributed to four total blocks while Harrington had three total blocks. Spain Park finished with 62 total digs, 18 from Camdyn Kyes, 14 from Cailyn Kyes, 11 from Wiggins, seven from Scott and six from Harrington.

Cailyn Kyes also added in 26 assists and two kills to her stat line.

Facing back-to-back losses, the Jags looked to finish off the tournament on a high note when they faced St. George’s from Collierville, Tenn.

After dropping the first set of the previous two matches, Spain Park rolled to a win in the first set against the Gryphons to establish itself as the early favorite. The Jags won the first set by a score of 25-17 to set up a chance to win the match with just one more set win.

Spain Park took care of business in the second set, winning it by a score of 25-18 to seal the sweep.

Harrington had 11 kills, two aces, two total blocks and seven digs in the win. Cailyn Kyes finished with 23 assists, six digs and two kills. Wiggins earned seven kills, five digs and two total blocks. Camdyn Kyes secured five digs and three assists, and fellow freshman Sarah Latham had four total blocks and four kills.

In addition, Shumate contributed to three total blocks and Mary Payton Dees had two aces in the victory.

Spain Park took its record to 14-5 overall with the 3-2 weekend. The Jags will seek their second-straight win when they hit the road on Tuesday, Sep.t 16 at 6 p.m. for a matchup against the Mountain Brook Spartans.

That will be the first of back-to-back matches for Spain Park as it will also head to face the Chelsea Hornets on Wednesday, Sept. 17 at 6 p.m. at Chelsea High School in search of a 3-0 start in area play.