By Erik Harris
CLAY – Behind a ferocious effort from its front line, Clay-Chalkville captured a 3-0 home win over rival Hewitt-Trussville on Tuesday night. The win came in revenge fashion, as the Huskies eliminated them from tournament play last weekend.
Clay-Chalkville sophomore Mekaila Hill goes up for the ball against Hewitt-Trussville. Photo by Chris Yow
The Cougars, fresh off their second Jefferson County championship in as many years, weren’t shy at the net. In a group effort, the hosts drove down 59 kills in three sets of play. Hewitt-Trussville finished the night with 21 recorded kills, 11 of which came off the hand of junior Rhianna Tyldesley.
Charyse Swann and Anna Fagan combined for eight additional kills while Meagan Edwards distributed 16 assists.
For Clay-Chalkville, it was Annastasia Brackin setting up the powerful spikes. She finished the night with 40 assists, seven digs and two aces. Many of her assists were gobbled up by a host of teammates, but none were as hungry as Kardasia Hitchcock who exploded for 22 kills and as many digs.
Hitchcock got a lot of help from La’Cherrie Harris, Jaszia Bowie, Mekaila Hill and Briana Brown. Those four combined for 36 kills on their crosstown rivals.
“We all stayed focused and our passers did their part and we just put it away,” said Bowie.
Following a lopsided first set that ended at 25-15, the Huskies changed their ways to tighten things up, but could never get over the hump. Set 2 went to Clay-Chalkville by a count of 25-21 before the decisive third ended 25-23.
Hewitt-Trussville is back in action tonight at Spain Park for a crucial area match. It will be the final area match of the regular season, and Tyldesley knows how important a win is.
“We have a very good chance of winning and if we play like we did against Mountain Brook, we can take it and I believe we will,” said Tyldesley. “If we lose (at Spain Park), we will play the big Mountain Brook (in the area tournament opener).”
The Cougars will hose John Carroll tonight in non-area action.
“We know that we are ready for state and we are good enough to win state, but sometimes we take breaks when we know we don’t need to. It’s just all about being focused,” said Bowie.
Follow Erik Harris on Twitter @jeharris2.
