Two old rivals clashed Monday night as St. James visited Alabama Christian and the Lady Trojans came away victorious winning, 28-26, 25-22, 25-20. Both teams were inconsistent all night and allowed long runs to their opponent in all three games.
The Lady Eagles came out flat and allowed St. James to jump out to an 11-0 lead to start the match. ACA had trouble adjusting to the very soft, short serves of the Lady Trojans. The Eagles erased the deficit and took a 25-24 lead late in the game, thanks to Jordan Smithee’s service game which accounted for six straight points. In the end, ACA ran out of gas and lost 26-28.
In game two with the game tied 5-5, the Lady Eagles allowed six straight points to St. James, committing errors on five of the six points. Once again, the Eagles fought their way back and pulled to within one point at 22-23, but gave up the final two points of the game and lost 22-25. Game three played out like the previous game as ACA allowed nine straight points to the Lady Trojans to trail 10-17. After pulling to within one point, 20-21, St. James scored the last four points to win the game and the match.
Jordan Smithee led the team with 10 kills, two blocks and two aces. Alyson Thornton had seven kills while Mary Hall and Monica Willingham both contributed six kills. Emily Thornton had 28 assists and two aces.
ACA (14-17) will play at home again tomorrow against Catholic in an importanrt area contest.