The Golden Lions volleyball team overcame early deficits in all three sets last night on the road at North Paulding High School.  North Paulding came in as a top 5 school in 7A.  Despite the strong hitting of the Wolfpack offense, the Golden Lions were able to make the big plays down the home stretch of each set to come up with the hard fought 3-0 victory.  The 3-0 final did not tell the real tail of how close this match was.  Set one was a back and forth affair with 5 lead changes before the Lions pulled out to a lead late playing their best ball of the year to take set 1 25-20.  Sets 2 & 3 were even tighter, the Lions found themselves down 19-14 late in the second set but continued to fight back finally tie the match at 23-23.  A big tip pick-up by senior Andrea Gonzalez and attack by sophomore Courtlyn Richard induced a North Paulding error to take their first lead and they finished set two. 

Set three was a reverse of set 2 with the Lions getting up to an early lead.  North Paulding fought back throughout and they finally tied the match at 24-24.  It would be the last point they would get.  Sophomore Landry Hess put down her 11th kill down the line for point 25 and added one more for the final margin in the overtime set 26-24.  Richard also had double digit kills with 11 for the match.  Gonzalez paced the defense with 22 digs.  19 assists for junior Eveliina Campbell and 18 assists for sophomore Catherine Morris had them both quarterbacking the offense effectively.

Next week the team will play at 6A power Johns Creek on Tuesday in another best of five affair at 6pm, then close out the regular season on Thursday with a pair of matches at Mill Creek.