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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

CHELSEA – The Spain Park Jaguars got some momentum back in area play and earned a measure of revenge for their last area loss after defeating the Chelsea Hornets.

It may not have been easy, but in a back-and-forth battle, the Jags took down the Hornets 3-2 on Tuesday, Sept. 24 at Chelsea High School.

For Spain Park, it was a bounce-back performance after losing to Chelsea in straight sets at home in its last area match on Sept. 17. As for the Hornets, it was their second-straight area loss in five sets after dropping another thriller to Pelham on Thursday, Sept. 19.

With both teams fresh off great performances in the HeffStrong Tournament over the weekend, they came out and attacked this opportunity to gain more traction in the Class 6A, Area 8 standings.

It was Chelsea which struck the first blow, establishing a lead in the first set that the Jags could not overcome.

That put the early momentum in the Hornets’ favor as the hosts took a 25-17 victory in the opening frame to go up 1-0 in the match.

However, the Jags struck back in the second set and took it down to the wire in a very closely matched battle between the local rivals.

The teams were tied 24-24 at the end of the set, and they went back and forth from there and traded the next 10 points to remain deadlocked.

In the end, Spain Park took two straight points to emerge victorious, ending the war of attrition with a 31-29 win, which evened up the match at one set win apiece.

With the match now hanging in the balance thanks to the tied score line, the two sides remained fairly close in the third set, but Chelsea took the lead and kept the Jags at bay from there.

The Hornets held off the visitors to take the third set 25-20, continuing the back-and-forth nature of the match and putting them just one set win away from the match victory.

Spain Park, recognizing the urgency of the moment, made sure the momentum swung back in its favor and took control of the fourth set even as Chelsea lingered just a few points behind.

The Jags saw out their lead and won the fourth set 25-21, evening up the match once again at two set wins each.

With the two teams still locked up in a tie, that forced a fifth and final set to decide a winner.

Spain Park jumped ahead and grabbed the lead in the fifth set and went on to win from there, taking the set 15-9.

With the win, the Jags moved into second place in Class 6A, Area 8 with a record of 2-2 behind 4-0 Pelham as the Hornets have now played an extra area match and sit at 2-3 in third place.

Spain Park is now 22-9 on the season and will play its next area match on Thursday, Sept. 26 at 6 p.m. against Helena on the road at Helena High School.

As for Chelsea, it now has one area match to go on the road at Helena on Tuesday, Oct. 8, but for now, it will host Calera and Briarwood Christian in a tri-match on Thursday, Sept. 26 at Chelsea High School.