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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

HOOVER – The Chelsea Hornets put together a strong performance at one of the biggest tournaments of the season as they reached the semifinals of the HeffStrong Tournament Gold Bracket.

Heading across town to the Finley Center in Hoover on Sept. 20 and 21, the Hornets won five straight matches to reach the final four, including against the Lincoln Golden Bears, Baldwin County Tigers, Jasper Vikings, Sparkman Senators and Auburn High School Tigers.

Chelsea started play in Pool H on Friday, Sept. 20 against Lincoln and got off to a flying start.

The Hornets built out a large lead in the first set and saw it out until the end as they took a 25-14 win.

From there, Chelsea had a similarly dominant second set and won the frame 25-13 to seal a sweep.

The Hornets then closed out the night with a matchup against fellow Class 6A side Baldwin County.

Chelsea used its dominant performance from the first match against Lincoln to keep its momentum rolling and dominate early on.

That led the Hornets to a 25-12 win in the first set, and they continued to perform well from there.

Chelsea capped off the night with its most commanding set victory of the day with a 25-9 win in the second set to win the match 2-0.

The wins set up the Hornets well going into the second day of the tournament, and they capitalized off of that in their first match of the day on Saturday against Jasper.

That match saw Chelsea drop its first set of the tournament in a 25-19 loss to the Vikings.

However, the Hornets bounced back and recovered well from there. They started by winning a tight second set, holding on for a 25-22 victory.

The teams remained closely matched in the third and final set, but Chelsea once again took the victory, winning 15-12 to claim the match.

With the win, the Hornets finished pool play a perfect 3-0 and advanced to the Gold Bracket of the tournament.

There, they faced the Sparkman Senators from Class 7A and took the fight to them from the opening set.

While Sparkman loomed within striking distance down the stretch of the first set, Chelsea finished out the 25-20 win, and that paved the way for an even better showing in the second set.

The Hornets improved on their opening set performance with a 25-17 win in the second to advance to the next round of the tournament.

Chelsea would then face Auburn High in the quarterfinals with a spot in the tournament’s top four on the line.

The match was tight throughout, but the Hornets tipped the first set in their favor and won 25-21 to go up in the match.

However, the script flipped in the second set as the Tigers took the set 25-20, sending the two teams to a third and final set to decide the match.

Not even a tiebreaker set was enough as the third set went down to the wire and ended up in a 14-14 tie. Now needing two straight points to stay alive in the tournament, Chelsea did just that and took the third set 16-14 to advance.

The Hornets were then matched up with another Class 7A side in the Hazel Green Trojans, and just like the match against Auburn, they needed three sets to determine a winner.

Hazel Green started out the match in front with a 25-20 win in the first set, but Chelsea kept the battle close from there.

The Hornets and Trojans were tied at 24-24 in the second set, and after splitting the next two points, Chelsea won back-to-back points to take the set 27-25 and tie up the match.

While the Hornets won their last two three-set matches in the tournament, they fell this time as Hazel Green won the set 15-11 to advance to the finals, where it would lose to Houston in three sets.

Across the entire tournament, Lauren Buchanan finished with 61 kills, 38 digs, 14 aces and five blocks, Cara Belcher had 111 assists, 34 digs and 10 aces and Alexis Rudolph earned 35 kills and three blocks.

In addition, Presley Durham had nine total blocks, Katie Spencer secured seven total blocks and five aces and Lila Willett had 29 kills and six aces.

Chelsea improved to 17-9 as a result of the tournament and will get back in area action on Tuesday, Sept. 24 at 6 p.m. as it plays host to the Spain Park Jaguars.