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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – The Spain Park Jaguars kept rolling with a strong showing north of the border at the River City Rumble in Chattanooga, Tennessee on Sept. 13 and 14.

The Jags beat five teams from Tennessee before squaring off with one of their most well-known foes, the Hoover Buccaneers, in the finals of the Gold Bracket.

Spain Park kicked off the tournament with a pool play match against the Signal Mountain Eagles on Friday, Sept. 13.

The Jags got out in front in the first set and saw out the victory from there, winning by a final score of 25-18.

That allowed Spain Park to have the momentum going into the second set, and it secured a win by an even wider margin in the process. The 25-15 win sealed the sweep to start out pool play on the right foot.

The Jags then closed the night with a dominant win over the Brentwood Academy Eagles.

Spain Park took control from the get go as part of a big 25-12 win in the first set of the match.

It then stopped Brentwood Academy despite a better effort from the Eagles and won the second set 25-15 to end the day without dropping a single set.

After a 2-0 day on Friday, the Jags looked to seal an undefeated record in pool play in their opening matchup of Saturday morning against the Notre Dame High School Fighting Irish of Chattanooga.

Spain Park stormed out of the gate with its best first set of the entire tournament, eventually winning 25-9 to go up in the match.

The Irish bounced back and made the second set a closer affair, but it wouldn’t be enough in the end. The Jags secured the 25-19 win to end pool play without dropping a single set.

That dominant pool play run placed them in the Gold Bracket against some of the best teams in the tournament, starting against Clinton.

Spain Park once again started the match well and took the first set. From there, the Jags kept the course and finished the 2-0 sweep to advance to the next round.

The win put Spain Park just a win away from the finals, with just the Girls Prep Bruisers out of Chattanooga standing in their way.

The two teams were close to evenly matched in the first set as the Bruisers challenged down the stretch, but the Jags saw out the 25-21 victory to go up in the match.

That paved the way for Spain Park to dominate the second set. The Jags pulled away to a large lead that they would not relinquish and ended up winning 25-10 to advance to the finals.

With five Tennessee teams now in their wake, Spain Park stood face-to-face with its bitter crosstown rival Hoover, now with a championship on the line.

Similar to their four-set match earlier in the year, the two teams went down to the wire in the opening two sets, with the first one needing extra points to decide a winner.

The Jags got the better of their rivals in the opening frame by winning both of the extra points to take the 26-24 win.

Hoover got a chance to bounce back thanks to another close set in the second set, and it took advantage of that with a 25-22 victory, which was Spain Park’s first set loss of the tournament.

That sent the championship match to a third and final set to decide who would take home the title.

In the end, it was the Bucs who built up an insurmountable lead and got revenge on the Jags for their win earlier in the season as Hoover won the third set 15-7 to take the championship.

Spain Park now moves to 17-6 on the season with another big week of games looming, starting with an area showdown with Chelsea on Tuesday, Sept. 17 at 6 p.m. at home.