The South volleyball team wrapped up the 2023 AHSAA All-Star Sports Week with a 3-1 victory over the North on Thursday at Montgomery’s Multiplex at Cramton Bowl.

It took a while for the All-Stars to find their rhythm, but when they did they won the day going away. The South lost the opening game 13-25 and slipped past the North 25-23 in the second before wrapping up the match with 25-8 and 25-12 wins.

It was the second straight win in the series that began in 1997 for the South, but the North All-Stars still hold at 15-10 overall advantage.

Before the volleyball match completed the competition, All-Star Week also featured softball, soccer, basketball, cross country, tennis, baseball and golf.

On Thursday, South outside hitter Chelsea Daffin of McGill-Toolen led the way up front. She earned South MVP honors with 16 kills, nine digs, two blocks and two assists.

The North girls dominated from the service box in Game 1 to take the 25-13 win. Mountain Brook’s Hannah Parant served seven points in a run to turn a 6-5 lead into 13-6 advantage early on. Thanks to the strong net play of Daffin, who landed five kills in the opening game, the South closed to 13-10 before Thompson’s Elizabeth Kelly went to the service line and served eight straight points, including two aces.

Jasper’s Alayna Hattaway controlled the net play with five kills in the first game for the North but managed only five more the rest of the match.

Leading 15-13 in Game 2, Daffin delivered her ninth kill and Pleasant Home’s Haily Ward delivered two aces in a row to give the South a 21-16 lead. The North closed to 23-all before the South closed it out at 25-23. Setter Heather Holtz of Enterprise had nine assists in the second game – setting up Daffin and Amelia Edgeworth of Orange Beach to even the match to 1-1. She finished with a match-high 21 assists and team high 10 digs.

The South’s aggressive serves kept pressure on the North in Game 3 en route to an 8-3 lead. Daffin registered her 10th kill of the match in the fast start as well. The South dominated all phases to take a 25-8 win to build a 2-1 lead. The South closed out the win with a 25-12 victory in game four for the 3-1 triumph.

Emma Moore, Daffin’s teammate at Mobile’s McGill-Toolen, finished with eight kills, Clarissa Dupree of St. Paul’s and Reece Varden of Spanish Fort added five kills each as the South finished with a 44-39 edge over the North. Blakeley Robbins of Bayside Academy had 17 assists. Daffin and St. Luke’s Camryn Waite each had nine digs.

North MVP Megan Jarrett of Bob Jones had a match-high 15 digs and  two assists from the libero position. Kelly finished with 19 assists and Parant had 14.

The AHSAA Championship Coaches Banquet is scheduled for Thursday night, recognizing all 116 state championship coaches along with the seven winners of the Making a Difference Award.

The awards programs conclude Friday morning with the AHSAA Sportsmanship School Awards Breakfast at the Renaissance Hotel and Convention Center in Montgomery, celebrating 80 schools that concluded the 2022-23 school year with no ejections or sportsmanship-related fines.

The mandatory administrators sessions will close out the conference on Friday.

This week’s results, with all-time series results:

GIRLS GOLF – North 48.5, South 41.5 – North leads 3-1

BOYS GOLF – North 55, South 35 – North leads 4-0

BASEBALL – North 11-5, South 4-5 – North leads 24-16-4

GIRLS BASKETBALL – North 80, South 44 – North leads 23-3

BOYS BASKETBALL – South 81, North 79 – North leads 50-30

GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY – North 70, South 84 – North leads 4-2

BOYS CROSS COUNTRY – North 77, South 113 – North leads 4-2

GIRLS TENNIS – North 8, South 1 – North leads 4-0

BOYS TENNIS – North 6, South 3 – North leads 3-1

SOFTBALL – South 3-6, North 3-5 – North leads 29-24-4

GIRLS SOCCER – North 3, South 2 – North leads 18-3-1

BOYS SOCCER – North 6, South 3 – North leads 15-4-1

VOLLEYBALL – South 3, North 1 – North leads 15-10

FOOTBALL (December 17, 2022) – South 42, North 7 – South leads 35-27-2

2023 NORTH-SOUTH MVP SELECTIONS

EVENT – NORTH MVP (School) – SOUTH MVP (School)

GIRLS GOLF – Chloe Ruble (Lindsay Lane) – Kristen Rachel (Mobile Christian), Katelyn Foster (Baker)

BOYS GOLF – Jonathan Peters (Homewood), Elliot Overton (Winfield) – Braden Prestwood (Pike Liberal Arts), Jackson Cleveland (Pike Liberal)

BASEBALL – Landon Fike (Gordo) – Gabriel Benton (Benjamin Russell)

GIRLS BASKETBALL – Tamya Smith (Pleasant Grove) – Ava Card (St. James)

BOYS BASKETBALL – Ty Davis (Mountain Brook) – Jamicah Adair (Jeff Davis)

GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY – Samantha Menikheim (Sparkman) – Eva McGowan (Auburn)

BOYS CROSS COUNTRY – Ethan Edgeworth (Cold Springs) – Charles Perry (UMS-Wright)

GIRLS TENNIS – Pippa Roy (Mountain Brook) – Hanbi Youn (Auburn)

BOYS TENNIS – Luke Schwefler (Mountain Brook) – Davis Jackson (Auburn)

SOFTBALL – Natalia Kenyatta (Bob Jones) – Mya Holt (Wetumpka)

GIRLS SOCCER – Nahomi Mendoza (Albertville) – Katie Brightwell (St. James)

BOYS SOCCER – Cristian Barrientos (Fort Payne) – Talan Galvan (Gulf Shores)

VOLLEYBALL – Megan Jarrett (Bob Jones) – Chelsea Daffin (McGill-Toolen)