By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director
Gulfport knocked off home-standing OLA Tuesday night in a five set thriller as the prep volleyball season in the “Southern Six” winds down toward the end of the regular season.
The Lady Admirals took the match in a battle of Coast powers 26-24, 25-23, 21-25, 20-25 and Gulfport survived the fifth and final set 15-13 to move to 27-6 overall while OLA dropped to an impressive 33-4 on the season.
Gulfport was led by the duo of Lynde Barnes and Lily Troisclar in the winning effort. Troisclar recently registered her 1000th career assist, while Barnes has been considered one of the top players in South Mississippi all season long.
Barnes has produced 332 kills, 133 total blocks and 37 aces this season. Cooper leads GHS with 138 total blocks.

The Crescents got 27 kills from Myah Favre and Ava Davis had 59 assists in a department in which she leads the state of Mississippi. Kinsley Stegall added 19 digs. OLA locked up first place in Region 8-3A last week..
Davis leads the state with over 1,000 assists and has 38 aces with 79 digs. while Favre has 431 kills, 150 digs, 52 aces and 47 total blocks.

Despite the win, Gulfport will finish as the second seed in Region 4-7A behind Ocean Springs which swept the Lady Admirals in a pair of league games earlier this year. The Lady Greyhounds stand 29-7 overall and 9-0 in the region race and they wrapped up the top spot in the league with a 3-0 sweep of D’Iberville last week.
Mary Carlton Descher and Carmella Coulter each had nine kills apiece in that win for OSHS while Anna Hoffmayer added eight. River Schmidt had 9 digs and Lucy Pepper registered 18 assists.
For the season, the junior Hoffmayer has 218 kills and 41 blocks with a .444 hitting percentage.

Meanwhile, in Region 4-6A, Hancock wrapped up the number one seed with a 3-0 sweep over visiting George County Tuesday night. The Lady Hawks moved to 9-0 in league with the completion of a sweep over the second place Lady Rebels this season.
Cambria Necaise has been one of the most consistent performers for Hancock this season with 292 digs, 31 aces and 11 kills (all from the back row).

And, in Region 4-5A, Vancleave secured the top spot in the league standings with a pair of wins over the past week as the Lady Bulldogs beat East Central 3-1 Tuesday night to wrap up a sweep over their league rivals and take the top seed.
The regular season still has a little over a week left before the state playoffs start.