County coaches were right on when choosing the top seed for the Calhoun County Volleyball Tournament as all four top seeds, Jacksonville, Ohatchee, Pleasant Valley and Oxford made it to the semifinals with top-seeded Jacksonville beating No.2 seed Ohatchee for the county championship.

The win couldn't have been any sweeter for a Jacksonville team who was yet to claim a championship in a tournament this year. It made it even more delectable because one of Jacksonville's losses at a tournament final came at the hands of Ohatchee in the Southeast Challenge.

Jacksonville (31-4), ranked No. 2 in Class 4A behind Guntersville, played like the reigning Calhoun County champs and back-to-back state champs that they are. They breezed through the tournament, sweeping all of their matches.

The Lady Eagles started off by defeating Piedmont 25-12, 25-12, 25-21, moved on to defeat Oxford 25-13, 25-17, 25-18 and then in the championship game beat Ohatchee 25-21, 25-14, 25-21.

While Ohatchee gave the Eagles a better match, there was still no doubt as to the outcome as the seasoned veterans, Taylor Palmer, Caroline Neisler and Megan Cabrer proved just too much for Ohatchee to handle.

Palmer, named the tournament MVP with 39 kills, 10 blocks and eight aces, led her team to victory not only with her tenacious kills but with her ability to get her team psyched after winning points.

"It's huge to go out and win like that," said an exuberant Palmer after winning the championship." It was one of our goals to win county. This was our first tournament win; it's a huge confidence booster for us.

"We compared this to playing in the state finals, hopefully we are going to be there. Ohatchee is a tough team. We really stepped up and played with a lot of intensity and showed a lot of guts.

"In the Southeast Challenge we lost to Ohatchee and that was in our minds. That loss helped us win this."

Neisler, with 31 kills and seven digs and setter Megan Cabrer who had 36 kills, eight aces and 105 assists were also named to the All-tournament team.

While the tournament is definitely for bragging rights in the county, Jacksonville head coach David Clark said it was important for other reasons also. "For me it's nice to play against coaches around here and see what they're doing. It's nice to see them play and see the people I work with and what they're doing with their teams.

"Since we have changed the format and have gone to a 3-out-of-5 format this is important because the region and state tournaments are set up like this only on a larger scale. It's the same type single elimination tournament which helps prepare you for the situations over the next couple of weeks."

Pleasant Valley head coach Dana Bryant agreed, "This is preparation for area, Regionals and sub-state. This is just part of getting ready.

"We want to do well because this is our county tournament but mostly we want to get better so that when we leave we are a better team than when we got here."

Pleasant Valley gave Ohatchee a scare in the semifinals beating Ohatchee 25-20 in the first game. Ohatchee took the next three games 25-11, 25-23, 25-18.

In the first round the Lady Raiders had no trouble with Sacred Heart beating them 25-6, 25-8 and 25-12.

The Lady Raiders had a tight match with Donoho but swept them 26-24, 25-14 and 28-26.

Whitney Glass with 44 kills and 108 digs and Jessie Kate Stewart with 40 kills, 58 digs and six blocks were both named to the All-tournament team from Pleasant Valley.

Jacksonville Christian went out in the first round against Oxford, 25-10, 25-12, 25-15 but coach Scott Morgan was pleased with what he saw from his team. "I think we represented ourselves pretty well against them," said Morgan. "We hit the ball hard. We tend to play with more finesse but against a team that is well coached like Oxford that doesn't always work.

"I think it was a good opportunity for us to play against some of the best competition in the county. Playing a team like Oxford today made us a much better team."

In the latest state volleyball poll, Calhoun County had six teams ranked in the top ten. Jacksonville is ranked No. 2 in 4A, Ohatchee No.4 in 2A, Donoho No. 7 in 1A, Pleasant Valley No.8 in 3A and Wellborn is No.10 in 3A with Alexandria No. 10 in 4A.