CLASS 4A, AREA 5 VOLLEYBALL FINAL: Catholic storms back to beat Trinity for area title
Trinity’s Anna Moore and Mya Moskowitz jump to block Catholic's Grace Levanda effort during the Class 4A, Area 5 tournament final on Tuesday. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
Trinity was one point away from securing the first two sets in Tuesday’s area tournament battle with Catholic when the game took a sudden turn.
The Knights scored the last five points to win the second set, then won the next two to secure the Class 4A Area 5 championship at Catholic on Tuesday night.
“Volleyball is such a game of momentum,” Catholic coach Jenn Denham said. “You have one mistake, it changes it; you have one really phenomenal play, it changes it.”
Trinity coach Sarah Dubberley isn’t sure what changed, but it was obvious. The Wildcats won the first set in impressive fashion, 25-17, and led the second one 24-21. Catholic’s Kathryn Reardon came up with a couple of kills and a tip for a point, along with a Trinity net violation and a Catholic block and suddenly the Knights had secured a 26-24 victory.
Defending state champion Catholic went on to win the third set 25-19 and the fourth 25-12 to secure their third victory over the Wildcats this season in a rematch of last year’s 4A state finals.
“Tonight was hard because I feel like mentally we crumbled and that’s hard to watch,” Dubberley said. “I can coach the X’s and O’s and tell you to be mentally tough, but it’s hard to coach the mental game.
“We came into it very relaxed. They played great the first set. They played great the majority of the second. Then, when something switched, it was like we played very tense. We still worked hard the entire time, but it’s like I just told the girls, there’s a difference between working hard and competing.”
Catholic (28-11) will face Hale County in the opening round of the 4A South Super Regional at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl next Thursday (Oct. 26) at 9 a.m. Trinity (19-13) will face Sipsey Valley at 10:15 a.m.
The two teams each need two wins to secure a berth in the state tournament the following week at Birmingham’s Crossplex.
Denham, in her first year as Catholic’s coach, is still learning about the intensity of the Catholic-Trinity rivalry but said her team didn’t match Trinity’s enthusiasm in the early moments of Tuesday’s match.
“I feel like we came out a little flat,” she said. “I don’t know why we came out flat, but we came out a little flat.”
For the Knights, Joi McGuire had four kills, three aces and 11 digs, Mally Barranco had 24 digs, Zaria Rudolph had nine kills, 11 digs and three blocks, Kathryn Reardon had 14 kills, six digs and a block, Grace Levanda had nine kills and three blocks, Harper Howell had 12 kills and two blocks and Maria Schwarz had 54 assists.
While Catholic returns most of its team from last year’s championship win over Trinity, the Wildcats are in rebuilding mode after losing eight seniors and a transfer that helped Trinity to the finals in each of the last three seasons.
“Initially, I thought it was a rebuilding year, but once I saw (in tryouts) what we had, it wasn’t necessarily rebuilding, it was just a new team,” Dubberley said. “It wasn’t that I had to come up with a whole new game plan, I just had to get these girls used to playing with each other.”