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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

HELENA – The Helena Huskies walked away from their home tri-match on Tuesday, Sept. 12 with a pair of wins over the Chelsea Hornets and the Tuscaloosa County Wildcats.

Chelsea also earned a win prior to their hard-fought match with Helena as they beat Tuscaloosa County in straight sets.

Helena opened the day with a straight-set win over Tuscaloosa County. The Huskies were able to control down the stretch to end the first set with a 25-17 win to go up 1-0 in the series.

Helena was able to use the momentum to open up an even wider lead in the second set and close out the match with a 25-10 win to earn a sweep.

After Chelsea also downed Tuscaloosa County in straight sets, the Huskies and Hornets took the floor to decide who would end the night with a 2-0 record.

The two teams battled it out in the opening sets, and the match could have easily swung either way as both of the first two sets went to extra points.

In the opening set, the Huskies and Hornets remained tied after the first round of extra points, but Helena closed the set strong by winning both points in the second round to take the set, 27-25.

The second set was even more tightly fought, as the teams went back-and-forth over four rounds of extra points to decide a winner. Ultimately, it was Chelsea who had the upper hand this time around as the Hornets won the set, 29-27, in a war of attrition.

Helena responded well in the third set and jumped out to a lead in the deciding set that Chelsea was unable to recover from. The Huskies took the final set, 15-8, to win the match, 2-1, and go undefeated on the day.

Across both of Helena’s matches, Addison Dockery led the Huskies with 21 kills, and she also recorded four aces and 14 digs.

The offense was also helped out by Lauren Sivley’s 14 kills and five aces and Hayley Deifenderfer’s 13 kills and three aces.

Presley Lively led the way on defense with 15 digs after she passed the 1,000-dig mark for her career earlier in the week, and Kylie Scoles also added 13 digs to her 56 assists. Cammi Pugh had nine digs and two aces to round out a strong defensive day for the Huskies.

Both teams will face area opponents on Thursday, Sept. 14 as Helena takes on Briarwood at home at 6 p.m. and Chelsea travels to Hewitt-Trussville at 6:30 p.m.