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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

CALERA – The first meeting between the Calera Eagles and Benjamin Russell Wildcats saw plenty of fireworks as the teams went the distance in five sets.

The Wildcats ultimately won that, but the Eagles got a measure of revenge with a five-set victory of their own as they took a 3-2 win on Tuesday, Oct. 1 at Calera High School.

In order to knot up the regular season series between the area foes, Calera had to survive a tight back-and-forth finish to the match with the fifth set going to extra points.

Benjamin Russell got the better of the Eagles out of the gate as the visitors got out in front in the first set and went on to win the set.

The Wildcats took the first set 25-18 to go up 1-0 in the match.

However, Calera flipped the script in the second set as it responded to Benjamin Russell’s first-set victory.

After dropping the first set by a score of 25-18, the Eagles won the second set 25-18, evening up the match at one set win apiece.

That set the stage for an even tighter third set as each team sought to get the upper hand in the crucial area matchup.

The Wildcats held off Calera down the stretch of the third set to take it 25-22, continuing the back-and-forth nature of the match and going up 2-1 in the process.

The pendulum swung right back to the Eagles in the fourth set as they took the lead in another tight set and saw it out for victory.

Calera won the fourth set 25-21 to knot up the match at 2-2 and send the teams to a fifth set once again to decide a winner.

The fifth set was as tightly fought as any stretch in the match, and the teams couldn’t be separated in the final points of the set as they were tied 14-14.

The Eagles split the next six points with Benjamin Russell as they tried to wrap up the victory, but after that, they took two straight points to earn the 19-17 win.

That sealed the 3-2 match victory to take Calera to 2-1 in area play with one match remaining.

The Eagles’ final area match will be Thursday, Oct. 3 at 6 p.m. as they travel south to face the Chilton County Tigers.