Spartans roll to quarterfinal victory

In the days leading up to the Class 7A State Volleyball Championships, Mountain Brook coach Haven O’Quinn repeatedly emphasized the same message to her Spartan team.

“The last five days I think I’ve delivered the same message consistently, and I don’t think they’ve heard it enough still,” O’Quinn said, “but I think that they have got to understand that they play their best when they play loose and whenever they play like they’ve got nothing to lose.”

In Wednesday afternoon’s state quarterfinal match against Enterprise High School, O’Quinn’s squad executed that strategy to near perfection, trailing for only one point throughout the entire contest and rolling to a dominant 3-0 victory 25-16, 25-20, 25-11.

“We’ve talked a lot about it’s not really about the opponent,” O’Quinn said. “I know physically and skill wise what my team can do, and I think that it doesn’t matter who we’re playing, it’s really Mountain Brook is playing Mountain Brook.”

Key to the Spartans’ success was their ability to jump out, and hold on to, an early lead. Mountain Brook won the first point of all three sets, building a six-point advantage within each frame’s first 12 points.

In the first, second and third set, Mountain Brook established an early 9-3 margin.

“The fast start is something that we always talk about and focus on. We want to be the first to five out of the gate,” O’Quinn said.

The only time the Spartans trailed in the high-stakes match was at the beginning of the second set when Enterprise earned a 2-1 lead. After that, Mountain Brook went on an eight- point run.

“We know that we can be a slow-starting team and dig a hole quickly,” O’Quinn said. “It can happen in runs just so fast, so that’s been something in practice that’s been a focus.”

Outside hitter Sara Carr totaled 14 kills and setter Sarah Chandler Mitchell tallied 32 assists in the triumph.

The Spartans will return to action this evening when they face Huntsville in the state semifinals..

Mountain Brook will be on a quest for redemption in the critical match, as Huntsville handed it a four-set defeat in the semifinals of the North Super Regional just a week ago.