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.
“We are so excited to be playing in the volleyball state championship for the first time in school history. I’m so proud of them!”
Alayna Yarger led the effort up front for the Lady Tigers with 16 kills and three blocks, with Loren Maloney adding 13 kills and three blocks. Natalie Crane racked up 26 assists and four kills, Emaline Sink had five kills, three aces and four assists, and Kayleigh Carpenter recorded six kills and three aces.
While Ringgold will play on, the championship hopes for Calhoun, Chattooga and Gordon Lee ended Saturday.
Like Ringgold, Calhoun won the first two sets of its Class AAA semifinal against Whitewater, 25-23, 28-26, but the Lady Wildcats dominated the next two sets, 25-13, 25-15, then rallied to win the final four points in the fifth and win the deciding set, 15-11, in the match played at Providence Christian in Lilburn.
The Lady Yellow Jackets, who were their bracket’s No. 2 seed, finished the season 25-10. Whitewater (26-7-1), the No. 6 seed, will face surprising No. 13 seed Cherokee Bluff in the title match.
Gordon Lee, last year’s runner-up in Class A, lost 3-1 to Oglethorpe County at Pope, with each set tight until the end. Oglethorpe (31-8), the No. 3 seed, won the first two sets by scores of 25-22 and 25-20 before the second-seeded Lady Trojans (38-11) won 25-21 in the third set to stay alive.
Oglethorpe then advanced with a 25-20 fourth-set win and will face No. 1 Bremen in the title match.
Bremen (36-7) won 3-0 over 12th-seeded Chattooga by scores of 25-15, 25-19 and 25-22. The Lady Indians end their season 34-13.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com.