Lady Wolfpack takes tourney
Greenbrier's volleyball team returned to the top of the mountain this past weekend with an Area 2-AAAA Tournament Championship.
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The two-day tournament, held in Brunswick, Ga., saw Greenbrier lose only one game out of four matches en route to its fifth area championship in eight years.
"It wasn't easy," Greenbrier volleyball coach Debbie Born said. "We did not dominate, but you could tell the girls were on a mission."
That mission included a pair of 2-0 sweeps over Ware County and Effingham County on Friday to reach Saturday's tournament semifinals for a showdown between north No. 1 seed Greenbrier and south No. 1 seed Glynn Academy.
The Lady Wolfpack won the first game 25-21 but lost the second game 25-19. The two teams fought to a 19-19 tie in the third and deciding game, but Greenbrier pulled away for a 25-20 victory.
"That Glynn Academy game in the semifinals was tough," Born said. "We were worried about them because they had such a good record."
The semifinals win put Greenbrier in the championship match to face rival Lakeside. The Lady Wolfpack swept the best-of-five finals 25-17, 25-19, 25-14 to claim the tournament championship.
"We expected it would be either Lakeside or Glynn Academy in the finals," Born said. "Lakeside just played better. They were a better team than Glynn Academy. It kind of showed the strength of the north side of the region."
Greenbrier and Lakeside finished in first and second place, respectively, while Glynn Academy took third place and Brunswick grabbed fourth place.
All four teams will advance to the Class AAAA state sectional tournament on Saturday.
Greenbrier will open with a first-round match against Ridgeland at Lithia Springs, while Lakeside will square off against Dalton at Woodward Academy.
The teams must win three straight matches in the single-elimination tournament in order to advance to the state semifinals.
"We've had such a good, solid year," Born said. "I think we really do have a true shot to be there at the final four this year."