Lady Patriots open area play with win, eye Blaylock tournament

The Homewood Lady Patriots volleyball team under Carol Chesnutt opened area play Sept. 15 with a win at Woodlawn.

The Lady Pats won easily over the Lady Colonels 25-10, 25-19, 25-14. 

 “We’ve been on the road and lost some hard-fought matches the past two weeks,” Chesnutt said. “The only match we really didn’t play competitively was final set of [a loss at 7A] Spain Park.”

She said the team is still striving consistency and high level of execution. Sophomore Ellie Burkhalter has led the team in assists while sophomore Ajah Wayne has been the leader in blocks. Junior Venice Sanders and senior Deja Hester-Taylor have been leaders in kills.

The Lady Patriots (4-9, 1-0 Class 6A, Area 9) were set to play another area match against Briarwood Christian at home Sept. 22 before hosting the prestigious Margaret Blaylock Invitational Oct. 9-10. Twenty teams will participate in the annual tournament at Homewood: local powers Mountain Brook, Hoover, Pelham, John Carroll, Vestavia Hills, Hewitt-Trussville and Ramsay and many of the top teams around the state: McGill-Toolen, Grissom, Bob Jones, Huntsville, Walker, Austin, Oxford, Southside-Gadsden, Tuscaloosa County, St. Paul’s, Pleasant Valley and Sparkman.

The tournament raises awareness of breast cancer with a portion of the proceeds going to breast cancer research. Teams will dress in pink and fans are encouraged to do so as well.

The area tournament will be held at the area champion’s gym Oct. 20. The regionals are Oct. 22-24. The state championships will be held Oct. 28-29 at Birmingham CrossPlex.