Honor Roll
Cross Country
Brandon Lawson, North Hall: Won West Hall Invitational boys division with a time of 16 minutes, 19 seconds.
Taylor Long, West Hall: Won West Hall Invitational girls division with a time of 19 minutes, 45 seconds.
Softball
Jordan Deep, Buford: Hit a walk-off single in a 6-5 win over Class AAAAA Grayson.
Malia Gaddis, Lumpkin County: Hit an inside-the-park home run and had two RBIs against Commerce last Wednesday.
Morgan Wood, Lumpkin County: Hit a grand slam and went 2 for 2 against Chestatee last Tuesday.
Volleyball
Amanda Daniel, Jefferson: Compiled 12 kills, 69 assists, four aces and two digs in matches on Wednesday and Thursday last week.
Jessica Falletta, Buford: Had 16 digs and six kills in a tri-match with Greater Atlanta Christian and Riverwood.
Tarryn Long, East Hall: Had 10 aces, 28 kills, 13 digs and an assist in a quad-match with Lumpkin County, Rabun County and Pinecrest.
Compiled by Graham Reaves
In her first two years of playing volleyball for the East Hall Lady Vikings, junior Brittney Campbell was on the winning side only 25 times.
During the 2011 season she and her teammates have left the court winners 19 times, setting a new school record for wins in a single season.
The record-setting match came last Tuesday in a match against Winder-Barrow in which the Lady Vikings won easily 25-12, 25-11.
Last week Campbell had two aces, six kills, 49 assists and 11 digs while leading East Hall to three victories.
For her efforts Campbell has been named The Times Athlete of the Week.
In his fifth year coaching the Lady Vikings, Todd Deppe is proud of his team and the way they have performed all season long. However, he knows the most difficult part of the season is still ahead for the Lady Vikings. A match next Thursday with Lakeview will decide the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds for the 8-AA sub-area heading into the area playoffs.
Postseason success is contingent on whether or not the Lady Vikings can play their best volleyball late in the season.
Deppe knows without Campbell’s leadership and superior play much of this would not be possible.
“Because she plays setter, she has to be on every game or the offense won’t run,” the coach said.
Campbell takes pride in being part of a class that has been a pivotal part in building the program up to the point where East Hall can possibly continue play after the area tournament.
She said the camaraderie on the court comes naturally because she and six of her teammates have played on the same club volleyball team for the past two years.
The team captain also gives her team all the credit.
“I feel honored to be on this (record setting) team, but I can take no credit without the team,” Campbell said.
Though she does have a lot of pressure on her shoulders Campbell wants to have fun playing volleyball. She plays and leads under the mind-set that if you are having fun, you will play better.
“I love to play,” said Campbell, “I love the competitiveness and it’s not like other sports where there is so much pressure to win.”
This season Campbell has 52 aces, 82 kills, 138 digs and with 335 assists so far this year is on pace to break her school record from last season.
The true student-athlete holds a 4.0 grade point average and does possess a serious mode that can come out during crucial points of matches.
“She lets her teammates know what they have to do and the girls respond well to her leadership,” Deppe said.
Undoubtedly, East Hall has a tough road ahead in order to reach their goal of making it to the state tournament, but one thing is for sure. With Campbell leading, the Lady Vikings will have a fun time getting there.