Russellville volleyball downs Lawrence County 3-1 to capture long-awaited area tournament title

In front of a large crowd and a packed student section, the Russellville High School varsity volleyball team took care of business in the Class 5A Area 15 tournament on Thursday night, dispatching the Lawrence County Lady Red Devils 3-1 in the championship match.

After falling behind 1-0 to start the contest, the Lady Golden Tigers roared back to take the next three sets and capture the tournament title.

“It just means a lot,” Russellville’s second-year head coach Madison Lamon said. “I love that they (the players) give no quit. We…came off with the loss that first set and they bounced back, and that’s all I could ask of them. I told them to leave it all out there on the court, and they did exactly that. They didn’t quit.”

Russellville secured the right to host the area tournament and clinched an automatic berth into the area championship game after winning the regular season area title back on October 7.

The Lady Golden Tigers had to wait to find out who they would draw in the area final on Thursday night, decided by the outcome of the West Point and Lawrence County semifinal. It was LCHS that advanced.

In the championship match, it was the already warmed-up Lady Red Devils who grabbed an early advantage and earned a victory in the first set, 25-15.

But the Lady Golden Tigers’ heads didn’t fall, and the team had a blistering start to set two, taking a quick 7-1 lead and forcing LCHS to take a timeout.

The hosts continued to dominate in the set, going up 14-5, then 18-8, and, after a brief run by LCHS, put the set away 25-17 with senior Laila Hill’s kill ending it.

“After that first set they showed that grit, you know? When you face adversity, a lot of teams normally want to shut off; I think that gives my group a little bit more power,” Lamon said. “They want it. You can tell they want it. But they’re coming together after every point; they’re cheering for each other, even after mistakes. That’s what we talked about all year: you need to be an encourager to each other even when it’s not going our way, and I think they showed that even in the first set.”

The third set saw more of the same from Russellville: the Lady Golden Tigers jumped up 8-3 to start, extended their lead to 14-7 and then 20-12 before finishing with a 25-18 win.

The fourth—and what proved to be the final—set demonstrated more of the ‘grit’ from RHS that Lamon talked about postgame.

Russellville’s Bella Malone (16) leaps to attempt a block against Lawrence County.

Lawrence County (25-29), determined not to go down without a fight, started hot and went up 10-4 before Russellville was able to gain a foothold. Methodically, the Lady Golden Tigers started to cut into Lawrence County’s advantage, slashing the deficit to 12-8 and then 13-11. A Blevyn Sappington kill eventually tied the game back up 18-18, and a block by Bella Malone gave Russellville a 19-18 lead, its first of the set.

Lawrence County, finally sensing the momentum shift, called a timeout after Malone’s go-ahead block, but it was probably too late at that point—the Lady Golden Tigers wouldn’t be denied.

RHS took a three-point advantage, 22-19, after senior setter Fatima Ramirez deftly tapped a ball over two LCHS blockers to a vacant space on the floor. A few rallies later, a Lawrence County attack error ended it 25-21 and sealed the triumph for the hosts.

Russellville’s student section celebrates a point in the Lady Golden Tigers’ area tournament championship match against Lawrence County.

One can imagine the scenes as the referee blew the final whistle and the Russellville student section rushed the court. While the Lady Golden Tigers showed fight to bounce back on the court, their classmates—dressed in cow costumes, holding signs and waving pompoms, celebrating every kill—and the rest of the Russellville fans brought the energy all night and got a deserved nod from Lamon, who said the team was fueled by their support.

“That’s the biggest crowd that I’ve ever seen at a volleyball game,” she said. “Everytime we have a crowd and there’s people cheering for us specifically, that gets my girls fired up even more.”

Seniors Laila Hill and Fatima Ramirez led the team with 15 kills and 21 assists, respectively, in the win. After the game Lamon praised her senior duo for their leadership in this campaign.

“I’m so proud of my seniors,” Lamon said. “They’re not really a group that likes to say a whole lot vocally but they’ve stepped up…and really led our team.”

But it’s not just the two seniors shouldering all the responsibilities and making plays, Lamon said. At this point in the season, the whole squad is making valuable contributions.

“I’ve also had some sophomores and juniors—everyone’s stepping up now,” she said. “They see the impact they’re making, so they want to continue to help.”

And it shows in the stats, too. Sophomore Blevyn Sappington finished with 14 kills and 17 digs, sophomore Bella Malone recorded nine kills and had two blocks, and junior Alexia Groce made 13 assists in addition to everything Hill and Ramirez were contributing.

Russellville sophomore libero Bri McCulloch (22) and sophomore Erin Grimes (9) prepare for service from Lawrence County. McCulloch set a new program record for digs in a season and career digs during the match.

Then there’s libero Bri McCulloch, who would normally see her name in the headline for her performance Thursday night. The sophomore finished her area championship match with a team-high 27 digs, giving her 827 for the season and 1,393 for her career. Both numbers set new program records… —and did I mention she’s a sophomore?

Really, if you take a step back, McCulloch’s record-breaking year kind of parallels perfectly with where the Lady Golden Tigers are as a whole this season. Lamon is in her ‘sophomore’ season as head coach, a majority of the players on her team are sophomores, and the squad is breaking program records left and right.

After the area tournament, Russellville’s record sits at program history-best 40-15 overall, which shatters the previous record that the team broke nearly a month ago. Oh, and I forgot to mention that the area tournament championship the Lady Golden Tigers won might also be the first in the program’s history.

Postgame, Lamon couldn’t recall seeing a previous area tournament title in the record books, and a glance at what history is available online shows two area tournament championship appearances for Russellville in 1997—RHS finished runner-up to Muscle Shoals—and 2014 (Lamon’s sophomore season at Russellville) when the Lady Golden Tigers were runners-up to Lawrence County.

Whether it is the first area tourney title for RHS or not, the fact remains: it’s been a banner year for RHS volleyball already—and the Lady Golden Tigers aren’t done yet.

This 2025 Russellville team will have more opportunities to rewrite the record book when it travels to Hoover for the AHSAA North Regional tournament next week.

Lamon acknowledges the regional will be a greater challenge, but believes the key to her team’s success will be to just keep doing what it’s doing.

“Even if we happen to get down at some point, still showing that grit, that fight. Still staying encouraging, making sure they cheer after every single point because we’re going to be playing tough teams,” she said. “We’ve seen the bracket of who we could play and we’ve already been preparing for it.”

The Russellville High School varsity volleyball team, Class 5A Area 15 tournament champions, with classmates and supporters.

The 2025 Class 5A Area 15 All-Tournament Team.

From Russellville: Bri McCulloch, Blevyn Sappington, Laila Hill, and Fatima Ramirez.