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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

NORTH SHELBY – The Briarwood Christian Lions entered the season with a wave of excitement thanks to a new coach and a new classification, and they capitalized on that hype with a statement win in their season opener.

Briarwood secured a 3-0 sweep over the Jemison Panthers on Thursday, Aug. 22 at Briarwood Christian School.

The victory was new head coach Chris Camper’s first of his Lions career and also started the program’s return to Class 5A on a winning note.

The sweep was also a dominant one as Briarwood won by double digits in each of the three sets.

The Lions pulled away early for a 25-11 win in the first set to establish the tone for the rest of the match.

That paved the way for an even more dominant win in the second set. Briarwood held Jemison under 10 points for the entirety of the set and continued to roll on offense en route to a 25-9 win.

With two sets in their back pocket and the match firmly in their control, the Lions finished the job in the third set with another big win. They took a 25-13 victory in the third set to seal the season-opening sweep at home.

It was a balanced day overall for the offense as four players got over five kills. Julie Roberts and Leighton Hendley led the way with seven kills each while Roberts also added four digs.

Clara Crawford filled up the stat sheet with six kills, six digs and three blocks, and Peyton Gibbons secured five kills on the day. Mia Wilson kicked off her senior season with a solid day of directing traffic as the veteran setter finished with 19 assists.

Briarwood will move on to the Juanita Boddie on Aug. 23 and 24 to face a loaded field of some of the region’s best teams at the Finley Center in Hoover, just a short drive away from Camper’s old stomping grounds of Hoover High School.

Placed into Pool 8, the Lions will take on St. Michael Catholic on Friday at 6 p.m. before facing Huntsville at 8 p.m. On Saturday morning, they will tangle with Mississippi’s Northwest Rankin at 9 a.m. before finishing pool play with a showdown with Springville at 11 a.m.