Photo courtesy of Hoover Volleyball
The Hoover volleyball team won the Over the Mountain Tournament on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2019.
Over the course of the year, the Hoover Sun will keep you up to date on the various Hoover and Spain Park high school athletic teams. For previous weekly updates, click here.
FOOTBALL
The Hoover and Spain Park football teams were off last week. This week, both squads return to Class 7A, Region 3 action. The Bucs travel to Tuscaloosa County on Thursday night and Spain Park hosts Thompson on Friday.
VOLLEYBALL
Hoover
The Hoover volleyball team had a busy week last week, winning a pair of regular season matches during the week and the Over the Mountain Tournament over the weekend.
On Wednesday, the Bucs took down crosstown rival Spain Park in four sets (23-25, 25-21, 27-25, 25-18). The following night, Hoover earned a hard-fought Class 7A, Area 5 victory over Vestavia Hills (22-25, 25-19, 25-21, 19-25, 15-13).
In the tournament, Hoover beat Athens (25-15, 25-17), Baker (25-18, 25-13) and Providence Christian (25-18, 29-27) and lost to Mountain Brook (25-27, 26-28) in pool play. In the semifinals, Hoover knocked off Bayside Academy (19-25, 25-17, 15-10) and in the final, the Bucs exacted revenge on Mountain Brook (22-25, 25-22, 15-9).
Some notable stats from the week:
- Rya McKinnon: 113 kills (including her 1,000th career kill against Baker), 37 digs, seven aces
- Sydney Melton: 31 digs, 32 kills
This week, Hoover hosts area foe Tuscaloosa County on Tuesday. The Bucs are now 22-10 on the season.
Spain Park
The Spain Park volleyball team played a couple non-area matches last week, splitting them. The Jags knocked off Thompson in five sets (25-14, 28-26, 23-25, 22-25, 15-12) on Monday and fell to Hoover in four sets (25-23, 21-25, 25-27, 18-25) on Wednesday. Some notable stats from the week:
- Paris Morris: 41 kills, 10 digs, two blocks, three aces
- Kendall Irwin: 23 kills
- Olivia Stark: 11 kills, three blocks, two aces against Thompson
- Jessica Veal: 88 assists, nine kills, eight digs
- Alex Wright: 14 kills
This week, Spain Park hosts a pair of Class 7A, Area 6 matches, against Hewitt-Trussville on Tuesday and Mountain Brook on Thursday. The Jags are now 26-13 on the year.
CROSS-COUNTRY
The Hoover cross-country teams ran in the Oak Mountain Invitational last Saturday, sweeping top team honors in the boys and girls races. Owen Marquardt was the top boys finisher, placing third overall with a time of 17:17. Charles Morris ran ninth, while Elijah Joseph (11th), Matthew Harden (12th) and John Michael Williamson (14th) ran in the top 15. On the girls side, Lauren Wallace ran the race in 20:25, good for fourth overall. Alyssa Halcomb (11th) and Ashley Girouard (13th) were also in the top 15.
The Spain Park cross-country teams participated in the Frank Horton “Night” Invitational in Memphis over the weekend. The girls placed fourth as a team, while the boys were seventh. Mackenzie Culpepper led the girls team with an eighth-place finish, in 20:07. Holland Lidikay finished 10th. Max Smith (25th) was the boys’ top finisher.
— What else would you like to see mentioned? For any suggestions, feel free to email sports editor Kyle Parmley at kparmley@starnespublishing.com.
