One of the most competitive Vicksburg Post Athlete of the Week contests yet came down to the wire and Melissa Herrle emerged victorious.

Herrle, a junior with Warren Central’s volleyball team, received 250 of the 882 votes cast in an online poll by The Post’s readers to bring home this week’s award.

Just 56 votes separated first and fourth place. Vicksburg High football player Ronnie Alexander was second, with 233 votes. Porter’s Chapel Academy softball player Kendall Smith was third with 205 votes, and St. Aloysius swimmer Jon Daniel Busby fourth with 194.

Herrle totaled 19 kills and eight aces to help the Lady Vikes win four of their five matches last week.

Herrle had six kills and four aces in a 3-0 region win vs. Columbus on Sept. 7, and then totaled eight kills and four aces in three victories at the WCJS Round Robin tournament on Sept. 9. She also had 10 kills in a 3-1 victory over Vicksburg on Sept. 12. The Lady Vikes will play at Neshoba Central on Thursday night.

Congratulations to Melissa and the other nominees, and thank you to our readers for voting.

The nominees for the Athlete of the Week award are announced each Sunday, and voting is open until midnight Tuesday. Links to the poll will be posted on our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages, as well as vicksburgpost.com.