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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

GULF SHORES – The Briarwood Christian Lions capped off the regular season with three wins in their final tournament of the season, which came at the Shrimp Fest Tournament in Gulf Shores on Oct. 10 and 11.

Briarwood started out strong with sweep wins over the Mary G. Montgomery Vikings, Albertville Aggies and St. Luke’s Episcopal Wildcats, but its run ended in the first round of bracket play against the Mobile Christian Jaguars.

The Lions came into the match off a competitive loss as for their second-straight meeting, they tangled with the Hewitt-Trussville Huskies of Class 7A before losing in four sets.

Briarwood immediately matched up against two Class 7A teams and the No. 2 team in Class 3A in pool play, and it blasted through the four-team pool to emerge on top and unscathed.

The Lions started out the tournament against Mary G. Montgomery and quickly worked their way to the lead. Briarwood took the first set over MGM to establish a lead in the first pool play match of the weekend.

From there, the Lions doubled down and won the second set as well to secure the 2-0 sweep over the Vikings.

The victory returned Briarwood to winning ways ahead of its second match against a 7A opponent in Albertville. Just like the first match, the Lions got the upper hand early in the form of a first-set victory, and they took that momentum into the second set to finish the straight-set win.

The 2-0 start gave Briarwood a big boost going into the second day of tournament play, which started with a tough test against the Class 3A No. 2 St. Luke’s.

The Lions rallied for a 25-22 opening set win to establish themselves as the early favorites in the matchup. From there, Briarwood kept its foot on the gas and earned its third-straight sweep of pool play with a 25-13 win over the Wildcats as the double-digit win wrapped up the 2-0 victory.

However, the run ended there as the Lions faced the No. 1 team in Class 3A, Mobile Christian, in the first round of bracket play. Briarwood dropped the first set to fall behind the ball, and the Jaguars emerged victorious with a second-set win to sweep the matchup and advance.

The loss wrapped up a 4-2 final week of the season for the Lions that saw some great individual performances.

Setter Noelle Suellentrop finished the six-match week with 139 assists, 10 aces and 42 digs. Julie Roberts led the offense with 70 kills while also adding in 12 aces and 29 digs.

Clara Crawford earned 30 kills, 12 aces and six blocks over the course of the week, and Leighton Hendley finished the six matches with 37 kills, 11 aces and 32 digs.

Briarwood finished the regular season with a 32-6 record and as the No. 1 team in Class 5A. The Lions will look to back up that status with a state title, and the road to that begins in the Class 5A, Area 8 tournament.

Briarwood will face Central-Clay County in the first round on Tuesday, Oct. 14 at 4 p.m. at Briarwood Christian School before a potential championship match that same day at 7 p.m.