Lady Rebels advance to Elite Eight

Advance: Lady Rebels earn playoff spot in Elite Eight

  • The Lady Rebels have advanced to the Elite Eight round of the Georgia High School Association state volleyball tournament with wins last week over Crawford County and Brantley County. Here, Keslie Kea (12) rifles the ball over the net in action last week against Crawford County. Backing up the play are Bailee Stiles, Maya Butler (3), Ashlyn Jones (15) and Maddie Pelfrey (13) .
    The Lady Rebels have advanced to the Elite Eight round of the Georgia High School Association state volleyball tournament with wins last week over Crawford County and Brantley County. Here, Keslie Kea (12) rifles the ball over the net in action last week against Crawford County. Backing up the play are Bailee Stiles, Maya Butler (3), Ashlyn Jones (15) and Maddie Pelfrey (13) .
  • The Fannin County Lady Rebels volleyball team celebrated with family and fans Saturday after earning a spot this week in the Elite Eight by defeating Brantley County.
    The Fannin County Lady Rebels volleyball team celebrated with family and fans Saturday after earning a spot this week in the Elite Eight by defeating Brantley County.

    The Elite Eight of state tournament play is the next stop for the Fannin County High School (FCHS) Lady Rebels volleyball team after decisive wins in two playoff rounds last week.

    Fannin County made quick work of Crawford County in the first round Wednesday, October 16, and Brantley County in the Sweet 16 Saturday, October 19. Hosting both matches in the FCHS gym, the Lady Rebels won 3-0 each time.

    Wednesday, the Lady Rebels won all three sets handily, setting a 25-8 pace in the first and 25-11 pace in the second to move on to a sweep in the third set.

    Saturday saw the same pattern repeated, as Fannin County won 25-6, 25-11 and 25-7.

    The Elite Eight game against Gordon Lee is set for today, Wednesday, October 23 at 6:30 p.m. at Gordon Lee High School in Chickamauga, Georgia.

    In a head-to-head meeting in September, the Lady Rebels took the first set from Gordon Lee 25-23, but Gordon Lee came back to win the next two sets and the match.

    The Lady Rebels enter the contest with a 27-8 season worksheet.

    Gordon Lee takes the court with a 39-5 worksheet, coming off a 3-0 win over Trion.

    Fannin County fought its way into post season action behind a balanced attack.

    Senior Kaylie Davenport paced the team in kills with 245. She added 142 digs, 14 assists and six blocks.

    Maddie Pelfrey, another senior, set the dig pace for the Lady Rebels with 230. She also had 69 assists and seven kills.

    Maggie Ledford was tops in assists  with 270. She was also second in digs with 171 and added 37 kills to her performance. She is a junior.

    Bailee Stiles, another senior, led the team in blocked shots with 21. She added 72 kills, 21 digs and four assists.

    Others adding to the 25 regular season wins, were:

    •Junior Keslie Kea who had 100 kills, 74 digs, six blocks and 12 assists;

    •Rylee King, a senior, contributed 50 kills, 35 digs and four assists;

    •Karis Hurd, a junior, scored 56 kills, 24 digs, three assists and six blocks;

    •Another junior, Kendall Clore, recorded 41 kills, 29 digs, eight assists and 17 blocks; and

    •Mayla Butler, who is a junior, scored 10 kills, 85 digs and eight assists.

    A pair of freshmen also made their marks in record books. Karleigh Hurd scored seven kills, six digs and seven assists.

    Ashlyn Jones contributed six kills, 83 digs and 192 assists, second only to Maggie Ledford in the assist category.