Juniors Jade Watson (25) and Becca Evans (7) were named to the GACA Junior Volleyball All-Star game this week as they lead the Lady Bulldogs against the No. 1 McIntosh Lady Chiefs on Saturday at 11:00 am. (Photos by Mark Brock)
A 41st win on the season did not come easy as the No. 2 ranked Chamblee Lady Bulldogs pulled out a nail-biting 3-0 Class 5A Sweet 16 playoff match over the Decatur Lady Bulldogs at Chamblee on Tuesday night.
It was the third meeting this season for the two Bulldog teams with Chamblee holding a 2-0 lead on the season with a 25-23, 25-19 win in the finals of the DCSD Spikefest and 25-13, 25-16 on August 23rd.
Decatur (32-13) was not going down without a fight falling 25-23 and 25-23 hard fought games to fall behind 2-0 in the best-of-five playoff format.
The third and final game went an extra three points before Chamblee closed out an exciting 28-26 clincher to advance to the Elite 8 for the third consecutive season.
Senior Camille Vanleer, junior Becca Evans and sophomore Jade Watson were instrumental in the Lady Bulldogs victory.
Chamblee’s 41 wins (41-6) on the season is the second most in program history behind the 2005 squad led by Brooke Kline that went 56-8 on the way to the Final Four.
Coach Lorri Reynolds (256-171) squad is just two wins from the program’s historic 550th victory (548-333) which leads DeKalb County volleyball teams and ahead of second place Dunwoody (488-337).
Chamblee travels to No. 1 ranked McIntosh (35-3) for a rematch of their 2017 Class 5A quarterfinal meeting won by McIntosh. The match is set for an 11:00 am start.
McIntosh has won 23 consecutive matches since a 2-1 loss to Apalachee on September 8. McIntosh’s only other losses were to St. Pius (2-1) and Walton (2-0). The two teams met on September 29 at McIntosh with the No. 1 Chiefs winning 25-21, 25-17.
Chamblee which has been ranked No. 2 most of the season opened the year with 21 straight wins before dropping a tough match to Etowah on September 8.
Juniors Erin Carpenter and Becca Evans were recently chosen to the Georgia Athletics Coaches Association (GACA) Junior All-Star Volleyball game set for November 10 at Hampton High School.
Carpenter is over 1,000 assists and over 130 digs on the season while helping the team to its 41 wins. Evans leads the team in aces (151), kills (270) and digs (308) and was an All-Area 5-5a selection and the 2018 DCSD Spikefest MVP.