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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

MONTEVALLO – Despite the season being less than a week old, the Montevallo Bulldogs got their area slate underway on Tuesday, Aug. 27 as they took on the Jemison Panthers at Montevallo High School.

Montevallo secured the win in the area opener by a score of 3-1 over Jemison to remain over .500 on the young season.

The Bulldogs came into the match with a 4-3 record after earning three wins at the Falcon Classic on Saturday, Aug. 24 at Central High School in Tuscaloosa.

Montevallo kicked off the tournament with a 2-1 win over Hale County, a 2-0 sweep of Holy Family Catholic and another 2-1 victory in three sets against Tuscaloosa Academy.

However, the Bulldogs took a 2-0 loss to Corner and a 2-1 defeat to Northside to finish out the tournament, and after Monday’s 3-1 loss to Calera on the road, they entered area play on a three-match losing streak.

Needing a win to turn around their recent form, the Bulldogs got exactly that as they took on the winless Jemison Panthers.

Montevallo started out the match with a convincing first set victory, a 25-15 win that saw the hosts beat Jemison by double digits.

The Bulldogs put on a similarly dominant showing in the second set, going up by 10 once again before taking the 25-14 victory.

That put Montevallo up 2-0 in the match and in firm control needing just one more set victory to take the win, but the Panthers fought back and flipped the tables briefly onto the Bulldogs.

Jemison stayed alive in the match with a 25-18 victory in the third set, and the visitors continued to challenge from there as they threatened to knot up the match.

In the fourth set, Montevallo found itself only in front of Jemison by the tightest of margins down the stretch and sat on match point up just 24-23.

While a Panthers win on match point would have forced extra points and a potential fifth set, the Bulldogs hung on for the 25-23 fourth set win to end the threat of a Jemison win and seal the 3-1 match victory.

Now sitting at 5-3 on the season and 1-0 in area play, Montevallo will play its final match before a Labor Day weekend break on the road against Briarwood on Thursday, Aug. 29 at 6 p.m.