By DREW GRANTHUM/Sports Writer

CHELSEA — The Chelsea Hornets and the Briarwood Christian Lions volleyball squads had but one opponent left to face in the tri-match competition held at Chelsea High Oct 1: each other.

The Lions, Hornets and Calera Eagles all met to participate in a tri-match, where each team played each other once in a best-of-three match. Calera played both squads earlier in the match, losing to Chelsea and taking down Briarwood.

Briarwood jumped out to an early lead, 3-1, before Chelsea closed the gap to 4-4 before taking a 5-4 lead.

The two teams battled back and forth, with the Hornets eventually taking a 25-23 win.

The second set appeared to be as close as the first, as the two squads tied at 4-4 early. A 7-1 run by Chelsea gave the Hornets an 11-5 lead, and it proved to be the difference, as Briarwood could not mount a charge, falling 25-14 in the final set.

Emma Cotney had 21 dogs and three aces, Madison Turner had nine kills, six assists and six digs and Courtney Campbell had 11 assists for Chelsea.

For Briarwood, Josie Slaughter had seven kills and two aces, Genie Muir-Taylor had three kills and Rachel Nix had two aces.