Spartans repeat as volleyball champs
The Mountain Brook Spartans captured a grueling first set, built on that momentum and defeated McGill-Toolen in three straight sets to repeat as Class 7A state volleyball champions Thursday at Bill Harris Arena at the Birmingham CrossPlex.
Mountain Brook’s Sara Carr repeated, too, as the tournament’s most valuable player.
The Spartans and Yellow Jackets -- known more commonly as the Dirty Dozen through their years as a state power -- hammered each other back and forth in the opening set. McGill rallied from an early 4-1 deficit to pull out to a 13-10 lead and again at 16-13. But trailing 23-22, Carr tied it with a kill and Sara Chandler Mitchell’s service resulted in a tie. At 25-25, Carr gave Mountain Brook a one-point lead and McGill misplayed the next point as the Spartans took a 27-25 win.
The two teams battled through another back-and-forth set, but Mountain Brook’s power and Lacey Jeffcoat’s ability to dig out tough shots gave the Spartans the edge at 23-22 and Mountain Brook came away with a 25-23 win.
It was all but over then. Mountain Brook rolled out to a 5-0 lead in the third set, built it to 20-8 and cruised home with a 25-16 win and the championship. They had 17 kills and just four errors in the final set.
“Set 1 was huge,” Mountain Brook coach Haven O’Quinn said. “I think any coach will say set 1 is big, you really want to get that first one, just for the mental part of it. They had us, they really did have us. It was just great volleyball.”
The first set seemed to loosen up any nerves the Spartans had, and even though the second set was tight, the characteristic grins, smiles and laughs returned to the girls’ faces.
Carr, who is not only the team’s standout player, is its vocal encourager and coach on the floor. She spoke to the tight-knit bond her team has.
“I’ve always said going to practice every day, it’s not just going to play volleyball or to get better, it’s like going to get better with your best friends. Because we really are. We have something special. We love being around each other. We don’t fight on or off the court. When we celebrate, it’s for our teammates because we see the hard work they put in every day.”
O’Quinn’s team was ranked No. 1 all season and didn’t lose a set in the tournament.
“It looks like we rolled through the season, like it was easy, but the girls will tell you there was nothing easy about this,” she said. “It was probably one of the hardest seasons I’ve been a part of just because it’s really tough to be on top. You get everybody’s best game. I can’t say enough about these girls’ poise and the character they showed throughout the season. They were just persistent. I think it’s real easy to have a lull, but these girls were so consistent from the day season opened to go 9-0 in sets in the state championship.”
O’Quinn who played at Daphne High School, was a player when McGill was the dominant team in the state.
“McGill dominated when I played,” she said. “They were our rival. So I would never tell my team this, but yeah it was very special to beat McGill today, has nothing to do with McGill now, but when I was a player they were the team to beat. So, yeah, it was kind of cool.”
Carr had 13 kills, 12 digs, two aces and a block. Mitchell had 39 assists and five digs. Payton Selman had seven kills and 14 digs and Emmy Kilgore had nine kills. They all joined Carr on the all-tournament team.
O’Quinn made the case that her sophomore libero Jeffcoat should have been there too.
“That kills me, she plays so hard and played awesome, she should be here too (with the all-tournament players).”
Jeffcoat had a team-high 16 digs and added three assists.