BY DANIEL SCHMIDT
THE OBSERVER
AUBURN — The volleyball season will continue for Auburn High School and Opelika High School following the conclusion of the Class 6A Area 4 tournament.
The Lady Tigers (8-18) hosted and won the area tournament at AHS Main Gym on Oct. 15, sweeping the Lady Bulldogs (15-8) 3-0 in the title game. Both teams advanced to the regional tournament at the Cramton Bowl Multiplex in Montgomery.
The Tigers opened the tournament with a 3-0 win over Central High School, while Opelika swept Smiths Station High School 3-0 to set up the championship rematch. The title-game win completed a season sweep of Opelika, the area tournament’s No. 2 seed, for Auburn.
Auburn head coach Ashley Parnell said the championship run came down to her team doing the little things well.
“It felt great,” Parnell said. “I’m really proud of the way that our girls executed. They played really clean and took care of our side, which is what we talked about, what we worked on and emphasized. So I’m really proud of their focus and execution.”
The sweep of Opelika and the area title are even more notable given how inexperienced Auburn’s roster is. Parnell said the Tigers opened the season with nine players who had never played a varsity match.
“It says a lot about them, especially with the young team that we have,” Parnell said. “We’ve got a lot of underclassmen; freshmen and sophomores. So that just speaks a lot to them and how much they’ve worked this season and how focused they were.”
Opelika’s first-round win over Smiths Station was its fifth meeting with the Lady Panthers this season, including two regular-season matches and two meetings at an earlier tournament, one in pool play and one in the championship.
Opelika head coach Robin Roberts said the familiarity cut both ways.
“We had confidence going in that we could beat them a fifth time,” Roberts said. “It’s difficult to beat any team more than once in a regular season. So balancing the confidence versus being cocky going into that game was kind of what we focused on, reminding the girls that yes, you need to be confident, yes, we can win this game, but not getting unfocused and being cocky out there.”
Roberts said while Opelika didn’t play a perfect match, it got the job done.
“We did have some hiccups,” Roberts said. “So honestly, when that game was over, it was just a sigh of relief.”
That relief comes with the territory of the area tournament, where a single match can end a season.
“It’s always a relief to get through the area tournament and advance,” Roberts said. “There’s a lot of weight on that one match of the season just to have the opportunity to continue playing. It’s always a proud moment when you can advance and your season doesn’t end at the tournament.”
The competition gets stiffer in Montgomery. Opelika was scheduled to open regional play against Enterprise High School (33-6) on Oct. 21, and Roberts called the Wildcats a strong program with talented hitters and setters.
“They’re always a really good program,” Roberts said. “So we’re just trying to keep our mindset, taking it one point at a time. We preach confidence to them and not being perfect, but being consistent, and that has been our style of play all year. The girls have really overcome a lot of obstacles and really learned how to win.”
Roberts said the plan is to lean on what the Lady Bulldogs have built all season.
“We’re just going to take everything that we have accomplished throughout this season, step on that floor and try to put our best foot forward and really compete with a good program,” she said.
Auburn was scheduled to open its regional tournament against Dothan High School (23-13) the same day. Parnell said her team had a productive stretch of practices after winning the area title, and she liked where the Tigers’ focus was.
“I think everybody is just really excited and they’re locked in on our opponent,” Parnell said. “We’ve had a really good, focused few days of practice. They’re just soaking it all in, and they’re excited to play on Wednesday.”
Regional results were not available by the Observer’s Tuesday press deadline.
