Photo courtesy Mona Ponder.
HMS volleyball
Back row: Coach Lisa Vickery, Morgan Whitt, Jane Wilson, Alyssa Langford, Liza Jane Ponder, Anna Harbin, Sarah Parker Lowery, Kayla Jemison and coach Christi Martin. Second row: Alex Hershbine, EmmaLee Floyd (All-Tournament Team), Sarah Smith (Tournament MVP) and Emma Johnson (All-Tournament Team). Front row: Jackie Bald, Abby Wilson, Sanaa Taylor and April Jenkins.
It had been 20 years since Homewood Middle School had won the Volleyball Metro South Championship.
And though the Patriots had put together a great season, going 12-4 in Metro South in the regular season, the odds looked long for them to capture the championship. Three of those four losses were to Oak Mountain Middle, Bumpus and Mountain Brook — and those were the teams the Pats would have to get through to win the title. But Coach Christi Martin’s team rose to the occasion.
The Patriots beat Oak Mountain in three games in the first round, beat top-seeded and undefeated Bumpus in two games in the second round and knocked off third-seeded Mountain Brook in three games on Oct. 3.
Mountain Brook came out of the losers bracket needing to beat Homewood twice to win the championship. Mountain Brook took the first game, but Homewood charged back to win the next game 10-25, 25-11 and 15-4 to become the 2015 Volleyball Metro South Champions. The Patriots finished 17-5 overall.
“We had to play Mountain Brook three times on Saturday,” Martin said. “It was a really special season.”
Homewood’s Sarah Smith was named the tournament most valuable player. She was joined on the all-tournament team by EmmaLee Floyd and Emma Johnson.
