SPANISH FORT – The Murphy Panthers prevailed over Robertsdale and host

Spanish Fort in a trimatch of top-10 ranked teams last week. The Golden

Bears came away with a split by taking a three-set win over the Toros.

Murphy defeated RHS 25-19, 25-16 and topped the Toros 25-20, 25-18. The

Bears lost the first game to SFHS 18-25,then won 26-24,15-10.

For RHS, Shelia Dailey had 19 kills, Kellen Shirley 36 assists and Bailey

Cincotta 23 digs. For SFHS, Taylor Morehouse had 20 kills, Amber Treace 45

assists and Madison Poe 18 digs. For MHS, O'Neal McMullen had 18 kills

with seven blocks, Megan Dobbins had 38 assists and Sherrill Dalhmann

had 20 digs.

Metta Roberts said her team's passing needs to improve, "In volleyball if

you do not pass the ball well, you will not win. Doesn't matter how good

your front row is or how well they hit it."

RHS, fresh off a tournament win at MGM, improved to 9-1. "We started out

slow against Spanish Fort and then picked it up a little bit," Roberts

said. "But I have to give (Spanish Fort) credit, they played very well.

Had pinpoint passing and we were lucky to beat them. Against Murphy, we

didn't play. We didn't pass well enough to win and we didn't."

SFHS coach Barclay Kercher said her 5A team did well against both top-10

6A schools – RHS was ranked No. 8 and Murphy No. 9 going into the match.

"We played well, I feel like we gave Robertsdale and Murphy a good run

today. I wish we could have played as well as we did in that first game

against Robertsdale when we were doing everything right. We need to stay

focused for the entire match and not just one game and play to the end."

With her limited bench – nine players on varsity – Kercher may go

to her JV for some relief. "With only nine players, three subs, some times

one match can go two hours and it can be hard," she said. "So we need to

look at that depth situation and may be bring up some younger players."

The Toros (6-4) were ranked No. 5 in the state in 5A as of Aug. 27.

Murphy coach Nancy Shoquist said playing two ranked opponents was what her

team needed. "We knew these would both be tough competitive matches.

That's what we want and that's what we need. Offensively, we're trying to

run lot of different things and see what works. We're just trying to get

better."