Four area volleyball teams entered the GHSA semifinal round Saturday, and only one survived.
Ringgold (34-11) will face No. 1 seed Morgan County in the Class AA championship match at 2 p.m. Thursday at LakePoint Sports Complex in Emerson, but only after turning back a furious rally by Franklin County to win 3-2 in a semifinal played at Pope High School in Marietta.
The Lady Tigers, seeded sixth in the bracket that began with 32 teams, easily won the first two sets by scores of 25-13 and 25-18, but Franklin County (28-15) pulled out a 26-24 win in the third set and rolled late to win the fourth set, 25-17. Ringgold, however, led from the start in the fifth set to advance with a 15-8 win.
Next up for Ringgold is the first state final appearance in program history.
“After winning the first two sets, they outplayed us in sets three and four,” Lady Tigers coach Ashley Boren said. “We also had way too many errors in those sets. We knew we had to win that last set to keep going and we picked up our energy and effort.