GAINESVILLE — The Gainesville girls volleyball team edged North Hall 2-0 (29-27, 25-23) in the Gold bracket with senior libero Sydney King earning match point with a kill to give the Lady Red Elephants their first-ever Hall County Championship title.
Lakeview Academy finished third with a win over East Hall 2-0 (25-10, 25-23) who finished fourth.
No. 2 seed Gainesville completed pool play in Pool B with a 3-0 record by defeating No. 6 East Hall 2-0 (25-12, 25-19), No. 7 Johnson 2-0 (25-15, 25-14), and No. 3 Flowery Branch 2-0 (25-18, 25-14). East Hall finished second in pool play with wins over Flowery Branch 2-0 (25-22, 25-17) and Johnson 2-1 (26-24, 19-25, 15-12). Johnson finished third defeating Flowery Branch 2-0 (25-17, 25-17).
In Pool A, two-time defending champion and overall No. 1 seed North Hall finished 3-0 by defeating No. 5 West Hall 2-0 (25-6, 25-10), No. 8 Chestatee 2-0 (25-11, 25-15), and No. 4 Lakeview 2-1 (24-26, 25-17, 15-7). Lakeview finished 2-1 and second in pool play with wins against Chestatee 2-0 (25-10, 25-23) and West Hall 2-0 (25-21, 25-10). West Hall earned the third seed for the afternoon's tournament by defeating Chestatee 2-0 (25-16, 25-14).
The seedings, similar to the the Lanierland basketball tournament, were based on last year's finish.
The tournament then matched the top-two finishers from each pool for the Gold (Championship) Bracket and the third and fourth place finishers from each pool for the Silver (Consolation) Bracket.
North Hall opened tournament play with a 2-0 (25-21, 25-13) win against East Hall, and Gainesville defeated Lakeview 2-0 (25-15, 25-9) setting up a rematch of last year's championship match.
In the Silver Bracket, Johnson defeated Chestatee 2-0 (25-16, 25-11) and Flowery Branch overcame West Hall 2-0 (25-21, 25-20). Johnson won the Silver Bracket finals match and earned the overall 5th place finish with a win over Flowery Branch 2-0 (25-18, 25-15) who finished 6th overall. West Hall finished 7th with a defeat of Chestatee 2-0 (25-15, 25-12) who finished 8th.
