AHSAA VOLLEYBALL REGIONALS: Catholic, Trinity, MA advance; LAMP, STJ, Brew Tech, Pike Road eliminated
Action from Wednesday’s AHSAA South Super Regional tournament at the Cramton Bowl Multiplex. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
Catholic coach Sellers Dubberley likes the way his team is playing in the postseason.
He couldn’t say that a year ago, even when the Knights reached the 3A state finals.
“I think we’re hitting our stride at the right time,” he said. “We’ve been changing the lineup throughout the year, but the last 10 games, we’re 10-0 and really clicking on the court. Last year, we were red hot out of the gate, mowing people down, and I don’t know whether it was fatigue or what but we hit a plateau right toward the end of the year.”
Catholic (26-10) didn’t face much of a challenge from either Jackson or Sipsey Valley in the first two rounds of the 4A South Super Regional at the Multiplex, blasting both to earn a return trip to the state tournament. The top four teams will battle on Thursday at 12:45 p.m. and again at 5 p.m. for seeding, but Catholic will join Orange Beach, Satsuma and Trinity in the state tournament next week in Birmingham.
Last year the Knights were in a similar position, but lost to Trinity 3-2 in the South Super Regional championship, then lost again to the Wildcats 3-1 in the 3A state finals. While Dubberley isn’t practicing any big speeches for the likelihood of another showdown with the Wildcats, it’s certain to come up in comments from time to time.
“It’s not something you can completely avoid,” he said. “I’m not sure that would be beneficial to completely ignore it but it’s not something we make the center of every practice. It has to be mentioned, but it doesn’t define who we are. I slip in reminders when I think it’s necessary. That is something that we just cannot allow to happen again -- to play as well as we did all year and to play well against that team and then kind of dip down at the end. I hope they don’t forget what that last game felt like.”
This Catholic squad is a little different, sophomore Harper Howell said, simply because of last year’s finish.
“I definitely think the mindset is different because we want our redemption and we’re ready to fight back,” Howell said. “I do think the mindset has changed because we’re all hungry for that redemption.”
Catholic opened play in the South Super Regional on Wednesday with a sweep of Jackson, winning 25-13, 25-12 and 25-9, then thumped Sipsey Valley 25-7, 25-9 and 25-13.
Catholic will face Satsuma in the semifinals on Thursday at 12:45 p.m. and advance to either the championship game or the consolation game (with both at 5 p.m.), but will be returning to Birmingham in any case after the win over Sipsey Valley.
“This game was definitely important,” Howell said. “We just have to stay locked in and we’ll be good.”
Dubberley almost neglected to mention the importance of the game in his postgame huddle.
“I actually forgot until the very end of our huddle because I’m focused on getting better and ‘we’ve got this team and possibly this team’ and at the end of the huddle (I remembered),” he said. “It is significant and I don’t want that to get lost on them or me. We’ve got unfinished business we have to take care of.”
Trinity advances
After coasting past their first two opponents in the 4A South Super Regional, Trinity’s volleyball players know the real test begins today.
The two-time defending state champions made easy work in disposing of T.R. Miller and American Christian Academy, qualifying for the state tournament in the process. The top four teams will battle on Thursday at 12:45 p.m. and again at 5 p.m. for seeding, but in any case Trinity will join Orange Beach, Satsuma and Catholic in the state tournament next week in Birmingham.
“Tomorrow will be good volleyball, which is fun,” Trinity coach Sarah Dubblerley said after beating American Christian. “Iron sharpens iron. It will make us all better for the state tournament.”
The Wildcats (39-8) will face Orange Beach (31-9) in the semifinals on Thursday at 12:45 after blasting American Christian 25-11, 25-6 and 25-6 in a second-round matchup on Wednesday. Emma Moody had nine kills, a block and an ace for the Wildcats, with Emma Kate Smith recording seven kills and a block and Holland Williams getting six kills and three blocks. Isabel Hill had a pair of digs and seven aces and Addison Cherry had 30 assists, three kills, two blocks, two digs and an ace.
“I think today went very well for us,” Cherry said. “Our big thing was unity. The past two or three weeks, our unity was not really there, but today we came out and played together. It was a lot of fun. Everyone had so much fun.”
In the regional opener Trinity cruised past T.R. Miller 25-13, 25-11 and 25-11. For the Wildcats, Reese Patterson had 12 kills, a block and a dig, Smith had seven kills, a block and a dig, Moody had eight kills, a pair of blocks and a dig, Gray Brendle had three digs and six aces and Hill had six digs and an ace.
“We hit a rough spot at the end (of the regular season) and as much as I don’t enjoy those situations, it was beneficial for them because it recentered their focus,” Dubberley said. “I’ve been preaching y’all aren’t invincible and we need to keep practicing to improve, we’re trying to improve rather than prove, so I think it recentered their focus. I was very proud of their play today.”
Last year, the Wildcats advanced to the South Super Regional championship against area rival Catholic, then faced the Knights again a week later in Birmingham for the 3A state championship. The same scenario could repeat itself again, although both teams are now in 4A.
“Our big competition will be Catholic again, which is how it was last year,” Cherry said. “Last year we played them in the regional championship as well. It would be nice if we won (the South Super Regional championship) but if not, that’s OK, we’ll probably see them again at state.”
MA continues dominance
Another year, another trip to the state tournament for Montgomery Academy.
Since the super regional format was unveiled in 2012, the Eagles have reached the super regional in all 11 years and advanced to the state tournament seven times, including five consecutive trips to the finals.
The trips certainly get a little harder as the Eagles have competed in 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A and this season as a 5A team, thanks to the Competitive Balance Factor.
And after wins over Elberta and Brew Tech, the Eagles earned their first trip to the 5A state tournament, advancing to the semifinals of the South Super Regional on Wednesday. The top four teams will battle on Thursday at 12:45 p.m. and again at 5 p.m. for seeding, but Montgomery Academy will join Providence Christian, Faith Academy and Gulf Shores in the state tournament next week in Birmingham.
“You’re talking about the amount of students that a 5A school gets to choose from, you’re going to find more athletes, taller girls,” Montgomery Academy coach Julie Gordon said. “It’s really hard. There are a lot of strong teams in the North (Super Regional) in 5A, but this guarantees us a spot at state. We’ll take baby steps, one step at a time. We know we’re going to state. (Thursday) is for seeding. Hopefully, we’ll do a little better.”
In the regional opener, Montgomery Academy defeated Elberta 25-15, 25-21 and 25-13. Caroline McDaniel had 11 kills, four blocks and six digs, Isabella Johnson had seven kills, three blocks and three digs, Elle McBride had six kills, 10 digs and seven aces and Addi Vinson had 27 assists, 13 digs, a kill, a block and an ace.
In the second round, the Eagles (39-6) defeated Brew Tech 25-12, 25-13 and 25-17. McDaniel had nine kills, two blocks, 10 digs and three aces, McBride had 12 kills, 12 digs and an ace, Vinson had 37 assists, six digs and a pair of aces and Parker Shegon had 27 digs, two assists and an ace.
“When we went to the ShrimpFest Tournament two weeks ago, we learned an important aspect of our team, that we need to play with emotion,” Gordon said. “That’s every person. The bench needs to have emotion, the girls on the court need to show emotion. If we don’t, we kind of play lackadaisical. Today, Brew Tech did a great job but we played with intent. We played a little more aggressive. It just makes a difference for us to be an emotional team and a team that gets hyped up.”
The path to the state tournament hasn’t changed much for Gordon, the Hall of Fame coach who picked up her 1,537th win on Wednesday by securing her 25th trip to the state tournament. But as Brew Tech rallied in the third set to delay the trip for a few minutes, Gordon hoped her players were taking notes.
“You can’t take winning for granted,” she said. “They’re not going to just give up, they’re going to fight harder and that’s what they did. We had some great plays, some great saves, some great hits, some great blocks. But our consistency should’ve been a little bit better.”
STJ, Brew Tech, Pike Road, LAMP eliminated
Since the volleyball format changed to super regionals in 2012, the St. James Trojans have been a familiar face in the state tournament.
Through the first eight years under the super regional format, St. James had four trips to the finals, three as a 4A team and once as a 5A participant. The Competitive Balance Factor is beginning to take a toll on the Trojans, however, as their three years in Class 6A have resulted in two first-round regional losses.
St. James was on the verge of advancing to the second round when Pelham rallied to win a five-set match on Wednesday in the South Super Regionals, ending the Trojans’ season at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl.
“We let it slip away in that fourth set,” St. James coach Karen Lee said. “We played them early in the season, played them well, but I feel like we’re a totally different team. We’ve learned how to play faster offense, play our defense that was new to us this year. I couldn’t be prouder of these girls. They really, really fought hard and we’re pretty young.”
St. James (23-16) dropped the first set 25-16, but rallied to win the next two sets 25-19 and 25-23 and were minutes away from winning its first-round match when Pelham rallied to take the fourth set 27-25, then defeated the Trojans 15-7 to end their season.
Camryn McMinn had 21 kills, Londyn Wynn had 19 kills and Averi Smith had 17 kills for Pelham (36-15). For the Trojans, Kaylin Corley had 29 kills, three blocks, 23 digs, an assist and an ace, Ava Card had 26 kills, a pair of blocks, 21 digs, four assists and an ace, Tatiana Shuford had 59 assists, 11 digs, a pair of aces and a block, Sydney Johnston had 22 digs and a pair of assists and Kiya Jupiter had 10 kills, five blocks and five digs.
After finishing as the Area 4 runner-up to Pike Road in the area tournament, the Trojans drew one of the toughest first-round matches in the 6A bracket.
“It is tough,” Lee said. “It is the draw and we take it as it comes. Other seasons, we’ve looked at it and it’s been a little easier path. It was a tough round, but we’re not going to back down.”
In the 11-year history of the super regionals, St. James has one state championship, four trips to the state finals, two additional trips to the semifinals and three additional trips to the quarterfinals. Now, after losing to Wetumpka in 2020, the Trojans have their second first-round loss.
Despite the early exit, Lee was proud of her team’s performance this year.
“They consistently got better throughout the year and they were peaking at the right time,” she said. “If we can continue as a young team to keep that momentum into next year, I think we’ll be back and go further.”
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It was tough to get a grasp on what type of volleyball team Brewbaker Tech would field this fall.
There was certainly some talented Rams on the court, but they were playing for their fourth head coach in as many years and the lack of stability was an issue for a team searching for chemistry.
“It was a lot in a short amount of time,” first-year coach Amy Patterson said. “They had to learn me, I had to learn them. I knew not a lot about them and it started at practice. It was learning them from scratch.”
By the time Brew Tech reached the 5A South Super Regionals at the Multiplex on Wednesday, they had battled through a rugged schedule and won the Area 4 Tournament at home, but the 5A regionals would prove to be too much for the Rams (15-22), which was eliminated in a second-round game by perennial power Montgomery Academy.
In the regional opener, Brew Tech defeated Sylacauga 20-25, 26-24, 22-25, 25-21 and 16-14. For the Rams, Berkeley Wright had 14 kills, nine blocks and nine digs, Kennedi Hill had nine kills and three blocks, Jen Nguyen had 25 digs, a pair of assists, two aces and a kill, Camryn Foshee had 17 assists and five aces and Elaisa Vazquez had 17 assists and a kill.
“They were a very tough team,” Patterson said of the 35-16 Aggies, “and I think our girls stepped up to the plate. That was probably the best fight I’ve seen in them all year. They fought hard from start to finish.”
For the Rams, Wright had eight kills, two blocks and two digs, Hill had three kills, a block and two digs, Jen Nguyen had 23 digs and Foshee had 11 assists and three digs.
“You’ve got to give it to MA,” Patterson said. “Coach (Julie) Gordon has those girls rocking and rolling. You go into it hoping you can play your best game against them.”
Gordon returned the compliment. After facing the Rams twice in the regular season, MA rolled 25-12 and 25-13 in the first two sets before Brew Tech suddenly turned the third set into a hotly contested contest before falling 25-17.
“They upped their game,” Gordon said. “They started blocking, they started hitting well, hitting in some seams. Amy has done a wonderful job with that team and they’ve got some good athletes on that team.”
It was the final game for Brew Tech seniors Wright, Nguyen, Foshee and Peyton Garrett, but Patterson believes the group laid the foundation for a better season in 2023.
“We’ve got four seniors,” Patterson said. “I really thank them for starting that get up and go and teaching (the younger players). For the younger ones, it’s about taking the good and the bad and getting their mentality and getting their game to the next level.”
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Pike Road fell one game short of the state tournament, ending its season with a loss to Northridge in the 6A Super Regional at the Multiplex on Wednesday evening.
After huddling with her players, Pike Road coach Joi Washington spent a few extra moments with seniors Emma Grace Mesaris and Desiree Williams. Pike Road started its volleyball program in 2018 and brought in Washington to coach in 2019, the freshman season for Mesaris and Williams.
“I’m obviously emotional because of my seniors,” Washington said. “I coach some of the best girls. There’s no place I’d rather be. There’s no team I’d rather be a part of. They give me every single thing they have every single day and today was no different. Obviously, the result is not what we wanted. That was a good Northridge team. We did well this season. One match doesn’t define us. I’m proud of them.”
Pike Road (33-11) defeated Briarwood Christian in the regional opener, rallying from a 2-0 deficit by winning the next three sets.
“In the huddle, you’re down 2-0 and you’re telling them, find a way,” Washington said. “Find way to play, find a way to score, love on each other, be good teammates.”
The Patriots lost the first two sets, 25-21 and 27-25, then rallied to a 25-17 win, followed by 25-18 and 15-10. Taylor Robinson had 18 kills, three blocks, six digs and four aces, Allie Lovrich had 13 kills and 14 digs, Rylie Fureigh had 20 assists, four digs and four aces and Lola Gorman had 12 digs, three assists and a pair of aces.
Northridge defeated the Patriots 25-20, 25-14 and 25-18. Robinson had eight kills, two digs and three aces, Lovrich had seven kills and eight digs, Fureigh had 10 assists and eight digs and Gorman had 14 digs.
Pike Road won the area tournament title for the third consecutive year and has eight juniors who will return for the Patriots next season. Washington said the postgame message for her team was simple.
“The biggest thing is just mentality,” she said. “We doubted ourselves a little bit more than I’ve seen all season. I’m going to go back and look at the schedule and maybe we play in some different tournaments so we’re in those situations. I think we could have been a little more confident than we were.”
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It wasn’t the kind of finish LAMP volleyball was expecting but first-year coach Mark Eubanks said he was proud for the season-long effort from a new group of Golden Tigers.
Eubanks is the third coach in as many years for the magnet school’s volleyball program, which made its third consecutive trip to the 4A state tournament last season.
On Wednesday, the streak came to an abrupt halt as Satsuma ended LAMP’s season with a 3-0 sweep of the Golden Tigers in the 4A South Super Regional at the Multiplex.
“We didn’t play our best,” Eubanks said. “We made some uncharacteristic mistakes that cost us at certain points in the game or cost us to lose momentum. But, overall, I’m proud of the girls. They fought to the end. They played awesome to get to this point. To finish 23-16 is a good bounce back after losing eight or nine seniors.”
LAMP could never string together a consistent stretch, playing catchup for most of the second-round match as Satsuma defeated the Tigers 25-23, 25-17 and 25-20. For the Golden Tigers, Jailyn Dixon had 11 kills, two blocks, six digs and an ace, Jada Gresham had eight kills and four blocks, Rylie Smith had 18 assists, seven digs, two kills and a pair of aces, Annabel Baker had 16 digs, a pair of assists and two aces and McKenna Speigner had eight digs, an assist and an ace.
In the regional opener, LAMP defeated Handley 25-15, 25-17 and 25-7. Dixon had 12 kills, two blocks, four digs and an assist, Gresham had seven kills, three blocks and an assist, Smith had 10 assists, five aces, a pair of kills and two digs, Kayden Callahan had six digs, an assist and seven aces and Emory Owen had three kills and three blocks.
The Golden Tigers needed to win their first two games in the super regional to advance to their fourth consecutive state tournament but fell one game short on Wednesday. Eubanks praised his players’ efforts this season after returning only Baker, a senior, and Dixon, a junior, with any significant playing time a year ago.
“I think the girls handled the coaching change well,” Eubanks said. “They are a resilient group of girls. They came in with no expectations. They worked hard every day, didn’t complain and gave me their all. They grew so much throughout the season and I’m thankful to be their coach. God willing, I’ll be back next year and we can take this group and build on what we did this season.”