By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Sports Editor

MONTEVALLO – For the second time this season, the Montevallo Bulldogs took on the Childersburg Tigers and pulled off a 3-0 sweep (25-9, 25-12, 25-14) on Tuesday, Oct. 9, but this time around, the dominant effort was more important for postseason implications.

With the victory, the Bulldogs were able to claim the Class 4A, Area 8 regular-season championship thanks to an overall record of 7-1 in area play that saw just one loss to the Leeds Greenwave during the regular season.

Montevallo now has the advantage of hosting the area tournament on Oct. 23, as the Bulldogs will look to advance into postseason play with high hopes of a strong run in the playoffs. They’ll also get to play a lower seed in the first round of the area tournament, which should give them an advantage with the top two teams in the area tournament advancing.

From the start of the matchup against the Tigers, Montevallo seemingly knew what was on the line and showed a dominant effort until the win was complete.

In the first set, the Bulldogs held Childersburg to less than 10 points for the only time in the match leading to a dominant 16-point, 25-9 victory and a 1-0 advantage overall.

While they failed to hold the Tigers to less than 10 points the rest of the way, the Bulldogs were able to hold them to less than 15 points in every set of the match thanks to consistent play defensively and offensively.

The second set saw Montevallo jump in front again, and consistent runs throughout led to an easy 25-12 win, which gave them a 2-0 lead in the match.

With their backs against the wall, the Tigers showed some fight in the final set, making it the closest of the three sets, but they were unable to overcome the continued pressure from Montevallo, who went on to post a 25-14 victory in the final set to pull off the sweep.

The Bulldogs will now finish the season off against county foe Vincent before hosting the area tournament in less than two weeks.