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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

MONTEVALLO – The Montevallo Bulldogs entered back-to-back home area matches with one goal in mind: beat both Bibb County and West Blocton and end area play undefeated.

The Bulldogs accomplished just that, beating Bibb County, 3-1, on Monday, Sept. 26 and West Blocton, 3-0, on Tuesday, Sept. 27 to clinch home-court advantage for the area tournament in October.

First, Montevallo took on the Bibb County Choctaws. The Bulldogs fought through a close first set and came out on top, 25-21, to take control of the match.

However, Bibb County responded and won the second set, 25-20, to even up the match. That sent the match into the third and fourth sets with the result in the balance.

From there, Montevallo put its foot on the gas and opened up a lead in the third set to retake the lead in the match with a 25-16 win. The Bulldogs used that momentum to take an even bigger lead in the fourth set and cruise to a 25-10 victory that sealed the 3-1 match win.

Hunter Jordan and Zoe Jones tied for the kill lead with 16 each, while Emeli Guardado racked up 39 assists.

The Bulldogs were dominant from the service line, winning 35 aces across the four sets. Carter Lawley led the team with 11 aces, with Jones earning nine and Riley Fletcher winning eight.

On defense, Jordan had two solo blocks, and Bailey Hamrick led the Bulldogs with eight digs.

The next day, Montevallo hoped to secure a perfect 4-0 area record against West Blocton. The Bulldogs started off the match strong with a 25-16 first set win to take the lead.

Montevallo kept on rolling after the first set win to take the second set by an even wider margin, winning the set 25-12.

Now up 2-0 in the match, Montevallo needed just one set win to polish off the sweep and the undefeated run through area play. The Bulldogs did just that, winning the third set, 25-17, to win the match, 3-0.

Jones led the Bulldogs with 17 kills, with Jordan earning nine kills and Blakely Baggett taking six. While Guardado had 25 aces, Jaida Heath helped shoulder the load with nine assists of her own.

Jones also led Montevallo in the service game, earning 10 aces as Montevallo had a player reach double-figures in aces for the second straight match. Lawley also earned five and Guardado won four aces.

Bailey Hamrick helped the defense greatly with 19 digs to led the Bulldogs in the category. Jordan had four digs and Baggett took three.

Montevallo will round out the week with a match against Calera on Wednesday, Sept. 27.