Walnut answered an opening-set loss with its most decisive set of the day Saturday, then finished the comeback against Lake Cormorant to salvage a split of four matches at the Tupelo volleyball tournament.
The Wildcats won 22-25, 25-10, 15-12, one of two victories in a Sept. 12 schedule that took them the full three sets every time. They also beat Olive Branch 2-1 and lost 2-1 to New Albany and host Tupelo, leaving Walnut at 19-4 overall.
Against Lake Cormorant, Walnut turned a three-point first-set defeat into a 15-point win in the second. The Wildcats then held off the Gators in the deciding set. Tupelo later took the final two sets against Walnut, 25-23 and 15-10, to claim their tournament meeting.
Rain accompanied Saturday’s cross-country competition, where Walnut’s Landon Jones delivered Tippah County’s highest individual finish in the two meets involving local runners. Jones covered the Hickory Flat Invitational’s 1A-3A boys 5K in 19 minutes, 30 seconds to place third at Blue Mountain.
James McConnell gave Walnut a second runner in the top 15, finishing 12th in 20:44. Jeremiah McAlister followed in 20th at 21:31, Walker Bryant was 23rd in 21:50, and Jackson Meeks placed 28th in 22:24.
Evelin Aguilar led Walnut’s girls with a 15th-place finish in 26:16. Falkner’s Kady Duncan took 30th in 30:18, followed by teammate Emma Mauney in 46th at 32:51. Pine Grove’s Mariah Waldon finished 69th in 39:39, with Austyn Brown 72nd in 42:24.
In the boys race, Preston Baswell paced Pine Grove in 51st at 25:12; Owen Vick was 70th in 28:26. Falkner’s Asa Childs finished 65th in 27:23, and Darren Alberson was 81st in 34:53.
At the Tupelo Invitational, Jenna-Lynne Massengill gave Ripley a top-six finish in the 1A-4A girls 5K, running 23:03.1. Dasha Rowland was the Tigers’ next finisher, 42nd in 29:34.6. Blue Mountain’s Adrianna Bolden followed one place behind in 29:40.3.
Blue Mountain teammates Cason Gentry and Caleb Galvez crossed just six-tenths of a second apart in the boys race. Gentry finished 29th in 21:23.0 and Galvez 30th in 21:23.6. Braylyn Derrick led Ripley in 106th at 26:50.0.
Pine Grove’s scheduled volleyball match against Olive Branch still lacked a reported final Sunday. Monday’s volleyball schedule sends Ripley to Kossuth and Falkner to New Site at 6 p.m.; Pine Grove hosts East Union and Walnut hosts Baldwyn at 6:30 p.m.
