MA-SPANISH FORT: Battle of volleyball Titanesses goes to Spanish Fort in 6A elimination game

MA’s Emmy Sorrell serves during the Lady Eagles’ match with Spanish Fort on Wednesday in the 6A South Regional at the Cramton Bowl Multiplex. (Tim Gayle)

By TIM GAYLE

Two 50-win programs facing off in an early-round super regional? Sounds absurd that two of the best volleyball programs in the state would face a win-or-go-home battle to earn a state tournament berth, providing the South Super Regional’s best volleyball match on Wednesday evening at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl.

Spanish Fort scored the final three points of the match to defeat Montgomery Academy 17-15 in the fifth set and eliminate one of the state’s top programs from competing for a state championship.

“Class 6A is a beast this year,” said Montgomery Academy coach Julie Gordon. “Earlier today, Pelham beat Saraland (in a first-round game). You’ve got the top four programs in the state and they beat each other out because we’re going by a numbered system (matching up area opponents) instead of getting the best teams to the state tournament.

“Class 6A is just hard. It hit Ann (Schilling at Bayside Academy) last year and it hit us this year.” 

All year, Montgomery Academy has defied the odds, winning at the Class 6A level after getting bumped up one classification by the multiplier placed on all private schools and three classifications by Competitive Balance Factor which penalizes private schools based on their success.

The Eagles were 10-2 against Class 7A programs this year and 20-0 against Class 6A teams entering Wednesday’s second-round match against the Toros. After the loss to Spanish Fort, Gordon pulled together a stunned group of volleyball players and praised them for defying the odds.

“What I just told them is we had no business beating the teams that we beat this year,” she said. “We’re 50-4 and the teams that we beat, a little ‘ole 2A school has no business doing it, but we won by the size of their heart and the culture of our program. And that can take you a long way. This didn’t turn out the way we wanted it to, but they’re a good team and Spanish Fort played very well today. It was a battle, but I’ll choose these girls any day because of the heart they have and how much they care for each other and our program.

“We had beaten them twice (in regular-season tournaments) but that doesn’t matter. You’re starting the postseason 0-0. At some point, when we get to choose from 50 girls and they’re choosing from 1,050, they’re going to have more athletes, they’re going to have taller girls. It’s hard to match up. We have no business beating the teams we do, with the size school we are, but we do it because of this (heart) and our culture.”

Montgomery Academy won the first set 25-22, much the same way they had won in earlier matches with the Toros this season, but Spanish Fort rallied to take the second set 25-19 and the third, 25-18, putting the Eagles on the verge of elimination.

“There were times in that match that our serve-receive passing was not as good as it should have been,” Gordon said. “Every time we did get a good pass or a good dig, we were putting the ball away. And against a team like that, that can hit that hard, it’s a slugfest. We pounded, they pounded. We pounded, they pounded, and that hurt us a little bit. It really did. They served tough and we just had a little trouble on serve-receive. And their hitters, they didn’t make many unforced errors.”

After the third set, a determined Montgomery Academy battled evenly throughout the set, finally winning 25-19 to force a fifth set.

“It’s a mindset,” Gordon said. “Those girls don’t give up. Addi (Vinson), Elle (McBride) and Caroline (McDaniel) were leading the way. They were bound and determined to rally this team and get them playing well. Nothing changed. We just played better. They had a mindset that we’re going to win this set. And they did that.”

Montgomery Academy rallied from four three-point deficits in the final set, scoring four consecutive points to take a 15-14 lead. Spanish Fort responded by scoring the next three points to win the match.

The Toros (56-9) will play Chelsea in the regional semifinals on Thursday and are joined in the 6A semis by Pelham and Gulf Shores. All four teams will compete in the state tournament next week.

Montgomery Academy had a string of six consecutive South Super Regional championships snapped in the loss. The Eagles also had advanced to the state tournament seven consecutive years, playing in six finals, winning five.

Vinson, McBride, McDaniel, Amelia Hughes, Talley Hamilton and Claire Poundstone joined a volleyball program coming off a Class 4A championship and guided the program to a 5A championship in 2022 and into Class 6A for the first time. The last two years, the seniors helped Montgomery Academy compile a 103-10 record.

“They’re dedicated,” Gordon said. “I keep going back to how much they care about our program and how they strive to be the best. That’s just how they are. They want to be the best in school, the best on the court. Whatever they do, they strive for perfection.”