Lady Pirates Keep On Truckin’

By Clint Cox

The Sneads Lady Pirates kept on truckin’ this past week as they picked up wins against Cottondale, Liberty County and Arnold. With those three wins the Lady Pirates improved to 14-1 on the season. The girls swept Cottondale in three straight games:  25-14, 25-13, and 25-13.  Leading the offense for the Pirates was setter, Tiffany Guerra who connected with her hitters for 29 assists.   The Smith girls led in kills with Meagan Smith earning 9 kills and Ashley Smith earning 8.  Jordan Jackson received 6 kills, Kara Alford had 5 kills, and Sierra Hewett had 3 on the right side.  Bridgett Dawson and Meagan Smith led in digs each with 6.  In ace serves, it was Sierra Hewett leading the way with 4.  Guerra scored 3 ace serves for the night, while Bridgett Dawson and Ashley Smith each had two aces of their own.  “ I am very proud of the way the girls are playing .  We have been very consistent this season,” said Head Coach Shelia Roberts . 

 In JV action, Cottondale was gracious enough to allow their JV to play Sneads 9th grade team and then turn around and play their 10th grade team.  It was called a tie during 9th grade action after the Lady Pirates fell the first game 22-25 but fought hard for the victory in the 2nd game 25-22.  Ashley Rogers earned 2 kills and 4 ace serves.  Brandy Strickland helped to lead the offense with three assists and 1 kill.  Jenna Sneads earned an ace serve while Alex Maphis earned 3 ace serves and 3 assists.  Middle, Savanna Owens had 3 kills while left side hitter Blair Edenfield had 1 kill of her own.  The 10 grade team swept Cottondale in two games: 25-21 and 25-9.  Leading in kills for the JV was Alyssa Edwards with 6.  Alyssa also earned 8 ace serves.  Emily Jones, who splits time with the JV and Varsity, had 5 kills and 3 ace serves.  Emily is an outstanding defensive player and that showed in the Cottondale game.  Yonna Bell is only a 2nd year player, but is already being effective for the Pirates.  She earned one ace and one kill.  Shannon McCaffrey and Becca Aaron led the defense in the setters positions and had a combined 12 assists.  Shannon also earned 3 kills while Aaron earned 3 ace serves.  Brandy Strickland was the only freshman to play with the 10th graders and did a great job, earning 2 kills and 1 ace serve.

Sneads played a tri-match Saturday against Liberty County and Arnold High School.  The Lady Pirates ended the day 2-0 and improved to 8-0 in district play.  In the game against Liberty, Guerra led the Lady Pirates offense with 34 assists.  Guerra connected with Meagan Smith to earn Smith 23 kills.  Smith also earned 2 blocks and 2 ace serves.  Ashley Smith earned 10 kills while Alford had 5 and Hewett came in with 4. Jordan Jackson earned 3 block kills and one kill.   Dawson led the defense with 16 digs and 28 perfect passes in the serve receive.  Emily Jones and Caitlin McCaffey both checked in for the Pirates and did a great job  in the serve receive.  Emily also earned 4 digs. 

 Next, the Lady Pirates faced Arnold High School from Panama City.  Again, it was the Guerra to Meagan Smith combination that led to 20 kills for Smith.  Ashley Smith came in with 10 kills once more.  Alford tallied 3 kills while Jackson and Hewett each had one kill.  Jackson also earned one block kill and one kill.  The Smith girls, Meagan and Ashley, each earned 2 ace serves.  Dawson led in digs again with 20, and 15 perfect passes in the serve receive.  Scores for the Arnold match were 26-24, 25-14, and 26-24.  Both matches were close and exciting! 

Sneads played host to Bozeman on Tuesday night in another district contest. Results of that match were not available at press time.