By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

HOOVERS – The Spain Park Jaguars traveled across town to the Finley Center in Hoover and picked up their first wins of the season at the Juanita Boddie Tournament on August 23 and 24.

After losing its opening match to defending state champion McGill-Toolen on Thursday, August 22, Spain Park completed a perfect 4-0 run through Pool 15 against Mary G. Montgomery, McAdory, Alexandria and Kentucky’s Great Crossings to reach the Gold Bracket as the No. 1 seed.

The Jags began group play against the Class 7A Mary G. Montgomery Vikings in dominant fashion. Spain Park built a solid lead and won the first set 25-10, taking an early lead.

While the Vikings had a little more pulling power in the second set, the Jags stayed in control and took the set 25-14.

The win was also the first of Justin Kisor’s career at Spain Park, in only his second game as coach of the Jags.

Spain Park ended the first day of the tournament with a showdown against McAdory, another Birmingham club, and the Jags gave the Yellow Jackets an early challenge.

Just like in the first set against Mary G. Montgomery, Spain Park won the opening set 25-10 and took a 1-0 lead in the series.

The Jags then continued their winning streak in the second set and secured the victory with a score of 25:17.

The two 2-0 victories put Spain Park in an excellent position to enter the Gold Bracket as one of the top two seeds in the group. The team took advantage of this opportunity by continuing its streak of consecutive set wins on Saturday morning.

Earlier in the day, the Jags played the Alexandria Valley Cubs and found themselves in their closest set of the tournament to that point, with Alexandria trailing by just two points at set point.

But Spain Park held on strong in the end and took the 25-22 victory, which helped the team to a big win in the second set.

The Jags won the second set comfortably with 25:6, securing their third tournament victory in a row before the final group game.

Spain Park then faced the Great Crossing Warhawks from Kentucky and won the first set 25-18 for its seventh consecutive set win.

Shortly thereafter, the Jags suffered their biggest defeat of the tournament in the form of a 25-13 loss in the second set.

However, this defeat did not stop Spain Park from finishing the group stage undefeated, winning the third set 15-6 to secure a 2-1 match victory that put them at the top of Group 15.

The Jags faced Marist of Georgia in the first round of Gold Bracket play and that game marked the end of their run at the Boddie.

Spain Park lost the first set 25-17, but then lost the second set 25-13, losing the match 2-0.

Despite the first-round loss, the Jags are down 4-2 on the season and now face a difficult stretch of games before regional play.

Spain Park returns to Spain Park High School on Tuesday, August 27th at 6 p.m. against the Mountain Brook Spartans.