With their regular season winding down, the Harrison Hoyas entered Tuesday with an opportunity to outright win the Georgia High School Association Class 6A Region 3 and claim the No. 1 seed for their region tournament as they hosted Paulding County and Hillgrove, with Hillgrove entering the day unbeaten in region play as well.
As matches got underway, Hillgrove would defeat Pebblebrook 2-0, while Harrison would pick up a 2-0 win over Paulding County, setting the two up for a winner take all match to close out the night with Hillgrove jumping out to an early 3-0 lead in set one. However, Harrison would settle in and respond with a 4-0 run, taking a 4-3 lead before the two battles back and forth over the next several serves before Harrison tied the set at 17 all and then closed out on a 8-1 run to win the set 25-18.
"I think that was honestly just the key, is that they had to settle in, they had to feel confident in terms of what they knew, how we play volleyball," Harrison head coach, Kristina Johnson said of the Hoyas set one adjustments to pick up the win after finding themselves down early and Hillgrove keeping the set close until Harrison was able to pull away late to win the set.
"I don't think our defense was where it needed to be in that first set and we got onto them there towards the middle and I think they really snapped out of it and pushed forward," Johnson said of her players efforts to overcome their early struggles in set one.
Similar to the start of set one, Hillgrove once again took an early three point set two lead as they opened up on a quick 4-1 run, however, the Hoyas again, settling in, bounced back outscoring Hillgrove 9-5 to take a 10-9 and eventually pulled away with the 25-19 win of the set, taking the match 2-0 and solidifying the No. 1 seed ahead of the region tournament for the second year in a row.
And while regular season region play has wrapped up for the Hoyas, they will have an opportunity to tune up for the region tournament with three remaining matches including one against North Cobb and another against Kell after their fall break.
"Making sure we continue to work hard, set the tone in practice. I mean these girls work in practice. So that tone and just come out, compete with North Cobb on their senior night and then give Kell a run for their money and then take it to region," Johnson said of what what she hopes to see from the Hoyas as they prepare for the region tournament.