DAPHNE—The Lady Admirals pulled off a pair of homeport wins Thursday over visiting Baker High and Gulf Shores in a trimatch at Bayside Academy.

Bayside, ranked No. 1 in 3A, beat Baker's Lady Hornets 25-23, 29-27 then defeated No. 6 ranked 5A GSHS 25-14, 25-22. In between, the Lady Dolphins knocked off Baker 26-24, 25-18.

Nursing injuries, the Lady Dolphins are gearing up for their final area battle at Spanish Fort.

Gulf Shores is 5-0 in area play with a recent win over the SFHS Toros 25-14, 25-15, 25-16.

"We just have one more area match," said GS head coach Wing Brett. "We play them at their place and by then we should be a full-combatant team. In two weeks we should have everybody back." Gulf Shores has been without starting senior libero Emily Brett all season and is now resting starting blocker/hitter Kimberly Glanding between critical matches due to shin-stress.

The Lady Admirals were nearly stung by the 6A Lady Hornets, but managed to keep it to two games. With two of her own players injured, Bayside coach Ann Schilling said she had to do some reshuffling in the line up that her younger players didn't adjust to instantly.

"We did some good things against Baker, but we played much better against Gulf Shores," she said. "Got some kids injured (Rachel Cooper and Emily Mace both out 1-2 weeks) and a lot of young kids in the new rotation right now. But in some ways it's kind of a good thing to have them have to come in and learn and step up."

One of those younger players is eighth-grade setter Sydney Chandler. "She's doing a great job for us, Schilling said. "As our passing improves, she improves and she's learning how to deal with bad passes better, too. We've been running a 6-2. (Today) we ran a 5-1 and she handled it well."

Assessing the midseason point at 4-0 in 3A Area 1 play, Schilling said the post-season situation is shaping up. "We're playing better than two weeks ago. We've got options," she said. "Which is nice. I think we have some young kids that have to continue to step up and play and I think we will be OK."

In game one between BA and GS, the score stayed close until at 9-9, with Chandler serving seven straight points including two service winners, the Lady Admirals pulled away. In game two, it stayed close again until at 8-8, BA pulled away again.

Chandler finished with a trimatch total of 35 assists; Savannah Simmons led the Lady Admirals with 20 kills, 11 blocks; Gabby Deshotel added 11 kills, 14 blocks; Virginia Pittman had seven kills, seven blocks; Maggie Niemeyer had seven kills, three blocks and GiGi Eyre had 11 digs and two aces.

For GS, Allison Taylor had five kills, three blocks; Mary Layson Gottfried had five kills, Virginia Jones had four kills and Erin Brett had seven assists.