In a battle of ranked county volleyball teams, the Lady Wildcats defended their home turf last Thursday.

Class 2A No. 6 Sand Rock (9-9) posted their second win of the week over Class 1A No. 4 Spring Garden with a 25-15, 25-15 victory over the Lady Panthers (8-15).

The hosts opened game 1 with a 15-6 run before closing out with a 10-2 stretch.

Spring Garden enjoyed its only lead of the match with a 1-0 advantage in game 2 before the Lady ‘Cats responded with seven straight points.

The Lady Panthers closed within 13-8 before Sand Rock’s 8-0 run made it 21-8.

Hannah Hutcheson’s seven straight service points helped the visitors draw within 21-15, but following a time-out the hosts finished off the match with a four-point outburst.

Sand Rock earlier lost to Class 3A No. 3 Geraldine, 25-14, 25-14.

The Lady Bulldogs then defeated Spring Garden by a score of 25-17, 25-23.

“Even though we lost to Geraldine, we played well,” said Sand Rock head coach Lisa Bates. “We played better as a team tonight, and we had six players on the floor who played hard. It’s a great match to build on heading into the Scottsboro Tournament [on Saturday].”

For Sand Rock, Amy Crane had 13 kills, followed by Leanna Young with 12, Ashley Beck with nine and Megan Battles with eight.

Chesley Chambers dished out 36 assists.

Battles had three blocks, while Chambers had three and Beck two.

Crane came up with 18 digs, followed by Beck with 16 and Lauren Bell with 13