AHSAA VOLLEYBALL: PCA surprises St. Lukes to win 3A sub-regional
PCA’s Lennon McAnnaly digs a shot during the Class 3A Sub-Regional at Garrett Coliseum on Thursday. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
When Prattville Christian Academy lost the area tournament championship match to Trinity, the Panthers knew their road to the state tournament got a lot harder.
Instead of being at home, PCA had to go on the road – to Opp – for the sub-regional round. The Panthers took care of Opp in straight sets to advance to the South Super Regionals at Garrett Coliseum on Thursday.
Standing in their way would be one of the toughest teams in 3A, St. Luke’s.
“They’re one of the better teams we’ve seen this season,” PCA coach Kaylon Cantrell said. “Their offense is super quick, they’ve got some hitters that can slam the ball. It’s one of the toughest games we’ve played this season.”
PCA came out and stunned St. Luke’s in the first set, 25-16, then went on to win in straight sets with 25-20 and 25-23 wins to advance to the regional semifinals and earn a berth in next week’s state tournament.
“We came out pretty strong in the first set and surprised St. Luke’s a little bit,” Cantrell said. “We just kept playing. We stayed pretty solid. We had to fight back in both the second and the third set but just never gave up.”
PCA lost to Houston Academy in the semifinals, 26-24, 21-25, 25-13, 19-25 and 13-15, falling into the consolation round where the Panthers rebounded by beating Thomasville in straight sets (25-9, 25-7, 25-22) to earn the third seed in next week’s state tournament at the Birmingham Crossplex.
“It’s been a goal from the very beginning,” Cantrell said. “We made it to state last year, too, but we knew after that we weren’t going to be satisfied with anything less than that. These girls have been working from Day One. From the day they opened the gym doors, it was full. They’ve been working all summer long, all season long. It was an exciting moment. They stepped up to the challenge and played big.”
In the three matches, Lennon McAnnaly had 34 kills, two aces, two blocks, an assist and 27 digs, while Victoria Wheeler had 19 kills, three aces, 10 blocks and eight digs, Coco Thomas had 14 kills, seven blocks and a pair of digs, Jamie Johnson had 38 assists, a kill, three aces and 11 digs, Ella Jane Connell had 44 assists, a kill, an ace and 15 digs and Emily Kamykowski had 40 digs, three aces and four assists.
In addition, Hannah Jones had 14 kills, eight blocks and a dig, Sally Swindall had eight kills, three blocks and three digs, Sydney Jorgensen had 12 digs and two aces, Dasha Dillard had nine kills and five digs, Avery Rogers had an ace and six digs and Chelsea Mulliner had a kill and a block.
PCA (35-9) will face Pleasant Valley (27-5) in the quarterfinals of the state tournament on Wednesday at 10 a.m. The other three matches, also at 10 a.m., will pit Plainview and Thomasville, Houston Academy against Fyffe and Trinity vs. Lauderdale County.
The semifinals will be on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m., with the championship match set for Thursday at noon.