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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

TUSCALOOSA – The Montevallo Bulldogs excelled in tournament action on Saturday, Oct. 4 as they advanced all the way to the finals of the JLA VolleyBrawl at Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa.

Montevallo finished the tournament 4-1 with wins over the Lamar County Bulldogs, Paul W. Bryant Stampede, Hale County Wildcats and Jemison Panthers before losing in straight sets to the tournament host Hillcrest Patriots.

Zoe Jones, Hunter Jordan and Rosemery Hernandez earned spots on the All-Tournament Team for their performances on the day.

Montevallo started out the tournament with a matchup against Lamar County that was close in the early going.

MHS took the early lead in the matchup thanks to a 25-23 win in the first set. After narrowly securing the win in the first set, LCHS flipped the script in another tight second set, this one ending in a 25-22 win to tie up the match at 1-1.

Montevallo took command of the match in the third set and pulled away to win the set by a score of 15-9 to win the match 2-1.

MHS then went on to face a Tuscaloosa-area team in Paul Bryant and dominated its Class 6A competition.

The Bulldogs took command early on with a double-digit lead in the first set, and they secured the win by a score of 25-10. From there, Montevallo remained in control and finished out the sweep thanks to an even wider win in the second set, this time in 25-7 fashion.

The win made the Bulldogs 2-0 going into their third matchup of the tournament, where they would face the Hale County Wildcats in a bid to continue their hot stretch.

Montevallo started the match in identical fashion to the Paul Bryant match and rode an early wave of momentum to a 25-10 win. That set up another dominant showing in the second set, one that saw the Bulldogs finish the straight-set win with a 25-6 victory.

Afterwards, Montevallo got to face a familiar face in Jemison, the regular-season area champions and a team that the Bulldogs lost to in both of their previous meetings while only winning one set in the process.

The opening frame proved to be a close one as Montevallo fought to gain control against the Panthers. The Bulldogs ended up taking the lead and seeing it out in the final points to win the first set by a score of 25-20.

However, Jemison completely flipped the momentum on its head in the second set. The Panthers raced ahead to a double-digit lead and tied up the match with a 25-11 victory.

Montevallo overcame the pressure and stepped up to win the third set. The Bulldogs got out in front and finished off Jemison with a 15-11 win to advance to the finals.

The championship match saw the Bulldogs go toe-to-toe with a Class 7A foe in Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa. Montevallo challenged for the win in the first set and nearly grabbed it after sending the set to extra points. However, Hillcrest won back-to-back points to take the set 26-24.

From there, the Patriots went on to win the second set by a slightly more comfortable margin of 25-19, sealing the title but not without the Bulldogs providing a scare on Hillcrest’s home court.

Montevallo improved to 18-12 overall with the 4-1 day. The Bulldogs will finish out area play on Monday, Oct. 6 at 6:30 p.m. against the Demopolis Tigers in a preview of the Class 5A, Area 5 semifinals. The match will take place at the University of Montevallo’s Central State Bank Arena and double as the team’s Senior Night.