The Russellville Lady Golden Tigers recently continued the varsity volleyball season with a group of matches at home and on the road versus tough competition.

RHS traveled to Moulton Sept. 5 and dropped matches to Lawrence County and Athens. The loss to LCHS brought the AHSAA Class 5A Area 15 record of the Lady Tigers to 0-2 at the time.

“On the road against two top 10 teams, we struggled,” Russellville head coach Will White explained. “We didn’t show a lot of maturity as a team. As we continue to grow, we will learn from this moment and come back stronger.”

Lawrence County got the 3-0 sweep by scores of 25-11; 25-18 and 25-13. Avery Watts was a top performer for RHS with seven kills and a block. Athens took the match over Russellville 2-0 by scores of 25-13 and 25-11. Watts had three kills versus the Golden Eagles. Natalie Nichols added four kills and Fatima Ramirez had six assists for RHS.

Russellville then went to Haleyville Sept. 7 for a tri-match and defeated the Lady Lions 2-1 after falling to Lamar County. Scores versus HHS were 25-15; 23-25 and 17-15. Lamar County took the match over RHS with scores of 25-18 and 25-15.

Avery Watts had 14 kills versus Haleyville. Blevyn Sappington added six kills and Nichols had five.

Bri McCulloch also helped the team to victory with 19 digs. Both Sappington and McCulloch are eighth graders on the varsity squad. In the match against Lamar County, Sappington totaled eight kills and Watts had six.

Russellville returned to the court Sept. 12 for a home tri-match with Brewer and Hamilton. RHS fell in the area contest to Brewer 3-0 by scores of 25-15; 25-13 and 25-23. The Lady Aggies also defeated Russellville. HHS took the match 2-1 with scores of 18-25; 25-15 and 15-9.

Sept. 14 RHS went to Deshler for another tri-match. Russellville (6-11, 0-3) topped the Lady Warriors of Wilson 2-1 before falling in a close battle with Deshler by the same score.