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Lady Indians drop hard-fought region title match to #1-ranked Athens Academy
Playing for a shot at their first-ever region championship, the Lady Indians fell just short in a 3-0 loss to Athens Academy at home. TFS was coming off a thrilling 3-1 win over #7-ranked George Walton in the region semifinals on Thursday that set the stage for the match with #1-ranked Athens Academy.
The first set saw TFS take a brief 4-3 lead before Athens Academy jumped out to a 10-5 lead that forced a timeout. The Lady Indians pulled to within 10-12, highlighted by a Barrett Whitener ace. Nancy Fisher went on a nice serving run to get to a one-point set at 15-16, making the Lady Spartans use a timeout to regroup. Back-to-back Alba Romanos Gracia aces gave TFS a 19-17 lead, but Athens Academy closed out the set with an 8-2 run to claim the set, 25-21.
The second set saw the Lady Indians trailing early before battling back to within 4-7. However, Athens Academy pulled ahead 11-4 and rode the lead wire-to-wire to a 25-10 conclusion. That gave Athens Academy a comfortable 2-0 lead.
The final set may have been the best played by both sides, as TFS went up 5-2 with Sarah Jennings at serve. Athens Academy pulled even at 5-5 before a monster block by Addy McCoy and kill by Whitener made it 8-5 Tallulah Falls. The Lady Spartans then went on a major run to go up 14-9 and force a TFS timeout. What followed was a 5-point serving run for Romanos that included three aces by her and a solid block by Whitener. Later in the set, it was 14-14. Jennings gave TFS a pair of leads with separate kills, and eventually the Lady Indians were up 23-19 but couldn't close it out. It went back and forth until the 28-26 win for Athens Academy.
The Lady Indians (22-11) will next play in the state tournament, which is slated for next Tuesday. The girls are guaranteed at least one home match. TFS finishes the regular season as Region Runner-Up for the fourth year in a row.
SCORES:
TFS L 0-3 vs #1 Athens Academy: 21-25, 10-25, 26-28