Helena goes undefeated at Smith Lake Classic to win championship

By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

JASPER – After ending their first trip of the season to Jasper with a 1-1 record, the Helena Huskies made sure their second trip in three days was much sweeter as they claimed the championship in the Smith Lake Classic on Saturday, Aug. 24 at Curry High School.

Helena emerged unscathed from all five of its matches, beating the Leeds Green Wave, Cordova Blue Devils, Meek Tigers, Winston County Yellow Jackets and Donoho Falcons to put them at 6-1 on the season after a marathon day of volleyball.

The Huskies started the day with a match against Leeds, and they got off on the right foot thanks to a tight win in the first set.

Helena won the opening frame 25-22, putting it up 1-0 in the match and setting the stage for more success in the second set.

The Huskies then secured the 2-0 match victory thanks to a dominant showing in the second set that saw them more than double the Green Wave’s score, taking the win 25-12.

Helena then had another tight first set against Cordova, with the Blue Devils lurking just a couple of points behind them before the Huskies took a 25-21 win in the set.

That momentum once again propelled them to a second set victory by a wider margin as Helena took the second set 25-17 to claim the 2-0 series victory.

The Huskies stormed out of the gate in their next match against the Meek Tigers and never let their foot off the gas. Meek could only manage a handful of points as Helena remained in control during a big 25-4 win.

While the Tigers broke up the Husky rallies more frequently in the second set, Helena still secured its sixth-straight victory in a set by winning 25-16.

That set up the Huskies with a date with Winston County, and that is where Helena faced its first big adversity of the tournament.

The Huskies’ consecutive set win streak was broken by the Yellow Jackets as the first set came down to extra points. Winston County won both extra points to take the first set 26-24 and put the pressure on Helena.

However, the Huskies flipped the script and built out a solid lead against the Yellow Jackets, eventually claiming a 25-18 win to tie up the match at 1-1.

Helena rode that momentum to commanding victory in the third and decisive set, winning 15-4 to advance in the tournament.

The victory left just one opponent standing in the way of the Huskies and an undefeated record in the Smith Lake Classic: Donoho.

Just like the matchup against Winston County, the Huskies dropped the first set in a close affair as they fell 25-21 to the Falcons to put them a set behind their opposition.

However, Helena evoked shades of its win over Winston County by coming back and taking the victory.

The Huskies claimed the second set 25-17 to get back on track and force a final set to decide if Helena would claim the tournament championship.

In the end, the Huskies won 15-10 to end the day with a 5-0 record and rule atop the Smith Lake Classic field.

Helena will hope to keep its winning ways going during its trip to Thompson on Tuesday, Aug. 29 at 6 p.m. before hosting Mountain Brook in its home opener on Thursday, Aug. 29 at 6 p.m.

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