Photo courtesy of Mountain Brook Athletics
The Mountain Brook High School volleyball team knocked off Homewood in an in-school match on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026, at Spartan Arena. Photo courtesy of Mountain Brook Athletics.
Mountain Brook High School's volleyball team swept Homewood 3-0 on Tuesday, rallying from a 7-2 deficit in the second set to close out the match in front of what head coach Mattie Gardner called the biggest crowd in her time with the program.
"That was the most memorable environment that I've ever had here at Mountain Brook," Gardner said in a video posted by the school's athletics website.. "Our student body, our parents, our faculty showed up tonight and it made all the difference for us."
The win over Homewood capped an 8-0 week for Mountain Brook, which also beat Parker 3-0 on Sept. 17 before going undefeated at the Back to the Boro tournament in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, with wins that included Hume-Fogg and Nolensville. That stretch pushed Mountain Brook to 25-5 on the season.
Lucy Comer led the way with 41 kills, 27 digs and 10 aces over the week, though that tally does not yet include the Homewood match. Sullivan Todd added 20 kills, 89 assists and five aces, and GA Lloyd contributed 37 kills and four aces. Darby Rhodes chipped in 13 kills, 60 assists and five aces, Sullivan Lell added 69 digs, 12 aces and 12 assists, and Adele Moffatt added 39 kills. Lell and Todd were named co-MVPs of the tournament.
The Homewood match carried extra weight with the two programs now sharing an area, putting hosting rights for the area tournament on the line.
"Homewood's in our area now," Gardner said. "This was kind of an elevated game beyond just a a regular season match, because really this had hosting the area tournament on the line."
The second set proved to be the turning point, with Mountain Brook clawing back from an early hole to win 31-29.
"At the beginning of the set, we had to acknowledge that we were down by so much," Gardner said. "We were down 7-2, I believe. And against a really good team like Homewood, that is almost impossible to come out of. So the fact that the girls were able to catch up and then battle with them towards the end just showed such focus and discipline from the girls, and I'm really proud of their effort."
Gardner said Tuesday's atmosphere, played during Mountain Brook's homecoming week, was a first for the program.
"That was the first time that we have had a home environment like that, and I know that that was some students' first time ever seeing a Mountain Brook volleyball game, and I know after experiencing that we're going to see them back in the stands again," Gardner said.
Gardner credited the school's administration for helping pull off the event, as well as Homewood for agreeing to the arrangement.
"And thank you to Homewood for being willing to do this as well. We did it for them last year, and so they returned the favor, but so much work went into making this possible, and I'm so grateful for the support of our community," she said.
With region play continuing and the postseason still weeks away, Gardner said the focus now turns to sustaining the team's improvement.
"We just need to continue on that trajectory of improvement," Gardner said. "We've hit a really nice rhythm in getting some really great wins against teams like Homewood, but I think we got to stay focused on improving. The state tournament's not next week. It's still a few weeks away and we've got some things to continue to get better at."
Mountain Brook hosts Hoover on Thursday and Northridge on Sept. 29, before traveling to Daphne on Oct. 1.
