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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

MONTEVALLO – The Montevallo Bulldogs entered their rivalry match against Shelby County on a tear after winning their last four matches.

The Bulldogs took down Pleasant Grove and got revenge over Paul W. Bryant in the Silver Bracket of the Corner Tournament over the weekend before they won both halves of their tri-match on Tuesday.

Montevallo continued their winning ways and closed out a perfect 3-0 week with a 3-0 sweep of the Shelby County Wildcats on Wednesday, Sept. 7 at Montevallo High School.

With the win, Montevallo is now on a five-match win streak that they will hope to continue this weekend at the Northridge Tournament in Tuscaloosa.

Montevallo opened their match against the Wildcats with a strong start as they looked to get off on the right foot in the rivalry matchup.

The Bulldogs came out on top in the opening set as they topped Shelby County, 25-16, which gave them an early one-set lead in the match.

Afterwards, Montevallo was able to continue their momentum and build a 2-0 lead in the match thanks to a 25-16 second set win.

Looking to close out their rivals in the third set, the Bulldogs were able to do just that as they won the set, 25-16, and took the match in a straight-set sweep.

Hunter Jordan led Montevallo in kills for the match with eight, and Zoe Jones and Blakely Baggett were close behind with seven each. In addition, Emeli Guardado earned 13 assists for the offense.

The Bulldogs were on fire from the service line thanks to nine aces from Jones and five from Carter Lawley. Over on defense, Jones led in digs with eight, and Jordan and Madalynne McConico each had five.

For the Wildcats, Madison Wood led the way with ten kills, ten digs, four assists to lead Shelby County in each category, and she also added a block and an ace to round out her solid all-around match.

Catelynn Davis earned eight digs and three assists, and Anna Rodriguez recorded five digs for Shelby County in the loss.

While the Bulldogs will move on to the Northridge Tournament on Sept. 9, Shelby County will travel to Gatlinburg, TN for the Rocky Top Classic over the weekend.

Before facing the Wildcats, Montevallo started the week strong with wins over Indian Springs and Holy Family Catholic in a tri-match.

The Bulldogs started out the tri-match with a 2-0 win over Indian Springs. The two teams battled it out in extra points in the first set, with Montevallo taking the set, 29-27, before the Bulldogs closed out the match in the second set with a wider 25-18 win.

Jordan’s 12 kills and Jones’ nine kills led the way for the Montevallo offense, and Jones also added a team-high 13 digs for an impressive night on both ends of the ball.

Guardado excelled from the serve, adding nine aces to her nine assists, and Jaida Heath had seven assists to help shoulder the load.

In the second match, Montevallo also beat the Holy Family Tornadoes by a score of 2-0. The Bulldogs and Tornadoes had a close first set, as Montevallo only took the set 25-20, but Montevallo was able to pull away for a bigger win in the second set with a 25-16 win.

Riley Fletcher led Montevallo in kills with seven, and the Bulldogs once again had a solid serving match with seven aces from Lawley and four from Fletcher.

Hamrick led the team with five digs, and Guardado recorded eight assists over the course of the match.