Harris, Columbus seek return to GHSA state volleyball quarterfinals

This isn't exactly uncharted waters for the Harris County volleyball team. It won area championships in 2012 and 2013. Last year, it finished third in area play, but advanced to the state quarterfinals playing matches on the road for three straight weeks.

When the Lady Tigers travel to Grovetown in the second round today, coach Rob Grant said nothing will change for his girls, who have been through situations like this before.

"We're used to playing on the road," he said. "We're business as usual. We've played at home like 10 times all year, so to us being on the road is like being at home."

They'll face a team in Grovetown that is 35-12 and an area champion. Grant said he doesn't know much about the team, other than that his team has played five matches against a common opponent and won all five. Grovetown won all but one of those common matches, losing once to Houston County, a team Harris County never gave up a set too.

By his estimation, if the Lady Tigers play their style of volleyball, they should be able to come out on top.

That style means good defense and making up for its lack of size with its play.

"We just try to be scrappy and play good defense," he said. "We've never been very tall, so we just want to be scrappy. That's helped us in the past. I'm hoping it'll help again."

Harris County recovered from an opening-set loss to take the final three sets in the first round of the playoffs against River Ridge. Grant is hoping that momentum they established will continue into the second round.

The Lady Tigers are 45-14 so far this season.

Harris County isn't the only team trying to advance to the

state quarterfinals again. Columbus, which won its first match handily, will host Evans in the second round.

Columbus was four points away from winning a state championship last year, and should be considered one of the top favorites to take home the crown this year. The Lady Blue Devils are led by five seniors, including middle hitter Shardonee Hayes, who has committed to play volleyball at Arizona in college.

Columbus has made the state championship round three years in a row, losing to Sandy Creek in the 2012 Class AAAA final, winning the 2013 Class AAAA final and losing to Sequoyah in Class AAAAA last year.

Evans, a 2-seed, took five sets to defeat Richmond Hill in the opening round of the Class AAAAA tournament.

In Class AAA, Kendrick defeated Southeast Bulloch in the opening round and will face the Area 6-AAA champion, Sonoraville, who defeated Washington easily. Sonoraville is one of the top teams in Class AAA. It sports a 40-8 overall record this year, but lost in the second round of the playoffs last season.

This story was originally published October 20, 2015 at 12:18 AM with the headline "Harris, Columbus seek return to GHSA state volleyball quarterfinals ."