AHSAA CHAMPIONSHIPS: Catholic follows through with title win over Trinity; PCA advances to finals

The Montgomery Catholic Knights defeated Trinity Presbyterian in the Class 4A state volleyball championship match at the Birmingham Crossplex on Wednesday. (Tim Gayle)

By TIM GAYLE

BIRMINGHAM -- Catholic coach Sellers Dubberley texted every volleyball player on his team after losing to Trinity in an area game in the Wildcats’ gym on Sept. 8.

“I told them I’m tired of losing to this team,” he said. “They ended our season last year, they ended our season the year before in the area (tournament). I said, ‘Mark my words, we’re going to beat that team. I’ll do it with anybody I have to. I’ll pull up all the JV players.’ We haven’t lost to them since.”

 Dubberley’s team completed its mission by avenging last year’s loss to Trinity in the 3A finals with a four-set win over the Wildcats in the 4A finals on Wednesday, earning the Knights their first-ever state title in volleyball.

“It’s like Coach said, we were just tired of losing to them,” Catholic sophomore setter Maria Schwarz said. “It does not matter what they do, we’re going to win this game.”

 The Knights did it in impressive fashion, allowing just three sets to the two-time defending state champion Wildcats after losing 3-1 on Sept. 8. In the rematch on Sept. 29, Catholic defeated senior-laden Trinity 3-1; won the area tournament title with a 3-1 win; captured the South Super Regional championship with a 3-0 win over Trinity; and won in the finals at Bill Harris Arena on Wednesday, 3-1.  

“They beat us soundly the first game, then we played them again about two weeks later,” Dubberley said. “In those two weeks, I spent a lot of sleepless nights figuring out how I could change the outcome.”

His wife, Trinity coach Sarah Dubberley, gave him credit for the changes that changed the course of volleyball supremacy in the Capital City.

“I think he did a very good job making adjustments on his lineup that he had not made the first time we played them,” Sarah Dubberley said. “He knows these girls very well and he was able to capitalize on our weaknesses.”

Those weaknesses were hard to find in the first set as the Wildcats scored the first five points, led by as many as 18 and cruised to a 25-10 win over a shell-shocked Catholic team.

“It did not feel good,” Schwarz said. “We just knew we just can’t end like this. We had to redeem ourselves from last year.”

The Wildcats fought Catholic to a 5-5 tie in the second set before the Knights pulled away for a 25-15 win. The game was ultimately decided in the third set as Trinity pulled out to a 13-6 lead, watched as Catholic fought back to a 20-20 tie and then put the game away with a Lennon McAnnally kill for a 25-23 win. In the fourth set, it was McAnnally finishing off the Wildcats again in a 25-16 win.

“It’s a great feeling, but every point led to that and it’s not just me,” McAnnally said. “We’re a team, a family.

“Trinity’s a great team. It’s always going to be a cat-and-dog fight every single time. It’s whoever brings everything to the court and leaves it on the court, whoever wants it more and puts in the work. We’ve been putting in the work.”

For Catholic (31-10), Allyse Rudolph had 18 kills, an ace, three blocks and six digs, McAnnally had 14 kills, an assist, 12 digs and three blocks, Harper Howell had nine kills and five blocks, Kathryn Reardon had two kills and a dig, Schwarz had a kill, three aces, four blocks, 38 assists and 14 digs, Zaria Rudolph had a kill, an assist and eight digs, Mally Barranco had two assists and 26 digs, Sophia Taylor had an ace and two digs and Lily Coulombe had four digs.

Allyse Rudolph was selected as the tournament’s most valuable player.

“It means a lot to lead my team to a state championship,” Rudolph said. “I’m more excited about the state championship than I am the MVP.”

 For Trinity (42-10), Emma Kate Smith had 15 kills, two blocks and a dig, Reese Patterson had 14 kills, a block and two digs, Emma Moody had eight kills and a block, Addison Cherry had two kills, three blocks, 34 assists and eight digs, Brely Dees had seven digs, Holland Williams had two kills, an assist, a dig and seven blocks, Anna Moore had three kills, three digs and a block, Gray Brendle had 17 digs, Isabel Hill had 21 digs, an ace and four assists, Charlee Cone had a kill, two assists and five digs and Mya Moskowitz had a kill.

For the Wildcats, losing to crosstown rival Catholic in the state finals was tougher than if they had lost to another team from a different part of the state.

“I think it makes it a little tougher because we’ve played them so many times,” said Cherry, last year’s most valuable player. “We just know their team so well and they’re our biggest rival, so it’s hard losing to them.”

Trinity, which found the right combination to win last time in the super regionals and finals, couldn’t find a weakness to exploit this time around.

“Coach Sellers did a really good job with them, just knowing what we do,” Cherry said. “And playing them last year, I guess you can only get better from there.”

“They really capitalized on our weaknesses because we’ve played them so many times,” said fellow senior Emma Kate Smith. “They just know all of our weak spots.”

The Wildcats, reached the finals for the third consecutive year with eight seniors that transformed Trinity’s volleyball program into a familiar face at the state tournament.

“The first year, I don’t even think a state championship was on our radar,” said Patterson, a senior outside hitter. “We just went out there and had fun and ended up winning. Obviously, the next year we wanted to do it again but we knew it was going to be harder. Since the state championship has been on our radar, we’ve learned that we have to keep pushing each other. And obviously the Catholic girls are doing the same.”

Catholic’s state tournament appearances all date in the last four years, with the Knights reaching the semifinals in 2019, making the finals last year and winning it this season. But the last step might never have happened without Dubberley’s changes to his lineup.

 “Last year, we had a bunch of new girls,” he said, referring to McAnnally’s transfer from Prattville Christian and Rudolph’s transfer from Marbury. “We had three returners from the year before. We had some girls transfer in. We were trying to find that chemistry. I don’t think we ever found it and still came two sets from winning a state championship. But I think it cost us a state championship.

“The whole first half of this year, it was the same thing. Just trying to find out how we can play together, how we can click and fit all the pieces together. Right around the middle of the year, I made some tough changes. We’ve been on a roll since then.”

One of those changes, he added, was making sure every offensive point flowed through Schwarz, his setter.

“After that first loss to them and I sent that text and made some changes, we put a lot more pressure and a lot more responsibility on that 10th grade setter,” Dubberley said. “She never left the court from that point on. I put a lot of her shoulders, but I wouldn’t give it to her if I didn’t think she could handle it. She’s probably the single piece …. if she couldn’t have handled it, none of the things that I did would have mattered.”

 Dubberly added that he was “extremely proud of this group of girls,” but took time to praise his opponent as well.

“Credit to Trinity,” he said. “They came out and played really well. They’ve got some athletes. Trinity did an incredible job. I’ve got so much respect for her and that team.”

Joining Rudolph on the all-tournament team were Schwarz and McAnnally, along with Cherry, Patterson and Smith.

PCA’s Hannah Jones blocks a shot during the Panthers’ win over Ohatchee on Wednesday. (Tim Gayle)

PCA advances to 3A finals

BIRMINGHAM – Prattville Christian advanced to the finals for the first time in school history, defeating Geraldine 3-2 in the 3A quarterfinals on Wednesday morning and Ohatchee 3-1 in the semifinals in the afternoon at the CrossPlex.

The Panthers (37-19) will face Plainview (63-11), which knocked off St. Luke’s Episcopal 3-1, for the 3A state championship on Thursday in Bill Harris Arena at 10 a.m.

The Panthers are making just their fourth trip to the state volleyball tournament, reaching the 3A quarterfinals in 2014 and 2019 and losing to eventual state champion Trinity in the 2020 semifinals.

In the quarterfinals, PCA dropped the first set, rallied to take the next two, lost the fourth set and edged Geraldine in the fifth set, 12-25, 25-19, 25-22, 11-25 and 15-13. Hannah Jones led the Panthers with 22 kills and two aces. Coco Thomas added nine kills, Sally Swindall had eight kills and Baylee Rogers delivered 40 assists.

In the semifinals, Jones had 27 kills and a pair of blocks to rally the Panthers from a second-set loss with a strong performance in the third set, winning 25-20, 21-25, 25-14 and 26-24.

Baylee Rogers added 39 assists and seven digs, Thomas had 11 kills and three blocks and Avery Rogers added 18 digs and four assists for the Panthers.