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Kyle Parmley
North Super Regional
Mountain Brook celebrates during the North Super Regional volleyball tournament on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023, at Von Braun Center in Huntsville. Photo by Kyle Parmley.
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Kyle Parmley
North Super Regional
Mountain Brook's Mattie Gardner during the North Super Regional volleyball tournament on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023, at Von Braun Center in Huntsville. Photo by Kyle Parmley.
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Kyle Parmley
North Super Regional
Mountain Brook celebrates during the North Super Regional volleyball tournament on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023, at Von Braun Center in Huntsville. Photo by Kyle Parmley.
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Kyle Parmley
North Super Regional
Mountain Brook's Sam Settles (5) during the North Super Regional volleyball tournament on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023, at Von Braun Center in Huntsville. Photo by Kyle Parmley.
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Kyle Parmley
North Super Regional
Mountain Brook's Mattie Gardner and EK Wright (24) during the North Super Regional volleyball tournament on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023, at Von Braun Center in Huntsville. Photo by Kyle Parmley.
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Kyle Parmley
North Super Regional
Mountain Brook's EK Wright (24) receives a ball during the North Super Regional volleyball tournament on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023, at Von Braun Center in Huntsville. Photo by Kyle Parmley.
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Kyle Parmley
North Super Regional
Mountain Brook's Mae Mae Beatty (3) and Annie Lacey (9) during the North Super Regional volleyball tournament on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023, at Von Braun Center in Huntsville. Photo by Kyle Parmley.
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Kyle Parmley
North Super Regional
Mountain Brook's Paige Parant (21) hits during the North Super Regional volleyball tournament on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023, at Von Braun Center in Huntsville. Photo by Kyle Parmley.
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Kyle Parmley
North Super Regional
Mountain Brook's Paige Parant (21) celebrates during the North Super Regional volleyball tournament on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023, at Von Braun Center in Huntsville. Photo by Kyle Parmley.
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Kyle Parmley
North Super Regional
Mountain Brook's Alice Garzon (2) during the North Super Regional volleyball tournament on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023, at Von Braun Center in Huntsville. Photo by Kyle Parmley.
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Kyle Parmley
North Super Regional
Mountain Brook's Ava Borland (11) and Grace Stewart (8) during the North Super Regional volleyball tournament on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023, at Von Braun Center in Huntsville. Photo by Kyle Parmley.
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Kyle Parmley
North Super Regional
Mountain Brook celebrates during the North Super Regional volleyball tournament on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023, at Von Braun Center in Huntsville. Photo by Kyle Parmley.
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Kyle Parmley
North Super Regional
Mountain Brook celebrates during the North Super Regional volleyball tournament on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023, at Von Braun Center in Huntsville. Photo by Kyle Parmley.
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Kyle Parmley
North Super Regional
Mountain Brook's Mae Mae Beatty (3) celebrates during the North Super Regional volleyball tournament on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023, at Von Braun Center in Huntsville. Photo by Kyle Parmley.
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Kyle Parmley
North Super Regional
Mountain Brook's Mattie Gardner talks to her team during the North Super Regional volleyball tournament on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023, at Von Braun Center in Huntsville. Photo by Kyle Parmley.
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Kyle Parmley
North Super Regional
Mountain Brook's Mae Mae Beatty (3) celebrates during the North Super Regional volleyball tournament on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023, at Von Braun Center in Huntsville. Photo by Kyle Parmley.
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Kyle Parmley
North Super Regional
Mountain Brook celebrates during the North Super Regional volleyball tournament on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023, at Von Braun Center in Huntsville. Photo by Kyle Parmley.
Each of the seven classifications have been whittled down to eight teams, following a week of high school volleyball regionals.
Mountain Brook, Homewood, Hoover, Spain Park and Oak Mountain competed at the North Super Regional in Huntsville, while Briarwood played in the South Super Regional in Montgomery.
Of those teams, Mountain Brook in Class 6A and Hoover and Spain Park in 7A qualified for the state tournament, which will be held this week at the Birmingham CrossPlex. Click here for a link to the state tournament brackets and match times.
Mountain Brook will play at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday. With a win, the Spartans would play in the semifinals at 6 p.m. The final is set for 2:30 p.m. Wednesday.
For Hoover and Spain Park, they open the state tournament Wednesday at 10:30 a.m., with the semifinals set for 3 p.m. The 7A final is set to be played at noon Thursday.
Mountain Brook took home the regional title, winning all four of its matches in straight sets. The Spartans took down Pinson Valley and Hartselle last Wednesday, then beat Oxford and Fort Payne on Thursday to earn the top seed from the north.
“I’m proud of how our girls are improving with each practice and match,” Mountain Brook head coach Mattie Gardner said. “It’s rare at this point in the season to say that your team is still getting better, but I can honestly say that about this team. Each team member and coach meaningfully contributed to our success this week.”
The road had a few more bumps for both Hoover and Spain Park in the 7A North Super Regional, despite only having to win one match to advance to state.
Thursday morning, Hoover rallied from a two-set deficit to beat Huntsville in five sets. Spain Park went back and forth with James Clemens but ended up with the same result, a tight five-set victory.
On Friday morning, Spain Park downed Hoover 3-0 in the regional semifinals. Spain Park was swept by Bob Jones in the final, while Hoover earned a five-set victory over Thompson in the consolation match.
Spain Park (21-19) stats from the tournament:
- Megan Ingersoll: 64 kills, 17 digs, 5 aces, 4 blocks
- Cailyn Kyes: 111 assists, 15 digs, 7 aces
- Reagan Gilbert: 28 kills, 25 digs, 5 aces
- Bea Wiggins: 19 kills, 9 digs, 6 aces
- Mae Elliott: 7 aces
- Alexa Benda: 6 blocks, 8 kills
- Grace Devlin: 26 digs
Hoover’s best match of the tournament was the key win over Huntsville. Some stats from that match:
- Sydney Durban: 41 digs, 2 aces, 7 assists
- Olivia Guenster: 20 digs, 2 aces
- Kendyl Mitchell: 15 digs, 13 kills
- Kayla Terrell: 8 kills, 7 solo blocks
- Addison Bentley and Madi Lopez: 20 assists each
“I’m very excited to make a trip back to the elite eight after such a heavy graduating class [last season],” Hoover head coach Amanda Wood said. “I think a lot of people counted us out and I’m so proud of the grit and perseverance shown in the five-set match against Huntsville.”
None of Mountain Brook, Hoover or Spain Park are strangers to the state tournament. Hoover and Mountain Brook were at the state tournament last fall, with the Spartans winning a match but falling short in the semifinals after winning the previous three state titles.
Mountain Brook and Spain Park won the state title as recently as 2021, with Hoover winning it all in 2020. Mountain Brook will be making its 11th straight appearance at the state tournament, including six titles in the last nine years.
Oak Mountain got the unfortunate draw of Bob Jones in the opening round at regionals, with Bob Jones winning the match in three sets. The Patriots did not drop a set in three matches on the way to the 7A regional title and have been ranked as one of the top teams in the country all season.
Homewood swept Huffman in three sets in the opening round in 6A, but Fort Payne beat the Patriots 3-1 in the second round, ending Homewood’s season.
Briarwood got a challenging draw as well, falling to Northridge 3-1 in the opening round of the 6A South Regional in Montgomery. The Lions were a couple points away from forcing the match to a fifth set, but Bayside Academy swept Northridge in the following round.
Village Living will be covering the state tournament this week. Follow sports editor Kyle Parmley on Twitter/X (@KyleParmley) for updates. The Village Living Facebook page will have updates, and full coverage will be online following each day of action.
