Russellville wins at Athens; drops 2 home matches

By Staff
Kim West, Franklin County Times
The Russellville varsity volleyball team is 9-9 with just over a month left until the Class 5A, Region 8 tournament after winning at region rival Athens Tuesday night and dropping two home matches last night to Decatur and Florence.
Russellville beat Athens in thee straight sets, 25-23, 26-24, 25-18, to pick up its first region win after losing at Muscle Shoals early in the season. Both Athens and Muscle Shoals qualified for the area tournament's two spots last year,
The Lady Golden Tigers hosted two region matches last night, but afer losing a close match with Decatur (27-25, 22-25, 22-25) and being swept by Florence (20-25, 17-25), their record is now 9-9 and 1-2 in the region.
In the Decatur match, junior outside hitter Callie Montgomery led Russellville with eight kills, eight digs and 18 attacks, while sophomore middle hitter Erin Reynolds added six blocks, seven kills and 10 attacks. Senior setter Calli Davis finished with five digs, six kills, 10 attacks and 11 assists.
In the Florence match, Reynolds was the team leader in kills (4), with one dig and five attacks. Davis added four assists, five digs and six attacks, and senior setter Anne-Marie Hall had three digs and two assists.
Russellville has already defeated the Lady Red Raiders once this season, but the win was counted as a non-region game since the match was played at the Muscle Shoals High Schoool Invitational tournament last Saturday.
The Russellville varsity will play again Monday at Lawrence County. The Lady Golden Tigers will play Muscle Shoals again at home on Thursday, Sept. 13, along with a match against Hatton.
The junior varsity and eight-grade teams will play in the Muscle Shoals Invitational tournament this Saturday and then again on Monday against Lawrence County.