Spartans’ solid setup

Mountain Brook High School has done something twice no other school has done once: win a Class 7A state volleyball championship.

The 7A classification has existed for two years, and the Spartans have won the title both times. There will be both old and new faces as they strive for the three-peat, but they are the only group who knows the feeling of leaving the Birmingham CrossPlex as 7A champs.

“Any playoff experience you have does nothing but help you,” said Haven O’Quinn, who enters her fifth season coaching the Spartans.

She reminded her team during last year’s run to the blue map that her group was the only one who knew what it was like to win it all, and used that as motivation to achieve back-to-back triumphs.

Sara Carr, Sara Chandler Mitchell and Payton Selman have graduated, but Mountain Brook has the pieces to replace them and takes a strong group into competition in the 2016 season. 

O’Quinn’s rundown of the team immediately begins with Lacey Jeffcoat, “the best libero in the state, hands down.”

“We’ve got her coming back. She started as a freshman and a sophomore on the court; now she’s just a junior. She’s still got two years. She’s phenomenal,” O’Quinn said.

As the libero, Jeffcoat will run the Spartan defense. She is so strong she breaks the mold of how her team would normally play, O’Quinn said.

“I’ve told her that the rules don’t apply to her,” O’Quinn said. “The typical rules in serve-receive, if the ball is splitting, then the person on the left gets it. No. If Lacey is near you and she can touch the ball, it’s her ball, get out of the way. She’s the real deal, full package of what a libero should be.”

On the offensive side of things, Libby Grace Gann will run the show, as she moves to setter after playing left back the past two seasons, O’Quinn said.

“She’s a lefty, and she’s offensive,” she said. “She can hit the ball, too. She’ll get up there and hit. I’m real excited to watch what she can do.”

Gann is part of an experienced bunch with a championship pedigree. Caroline Davies, Mimi Meadows, Ellie Ritter and Emmy Kilgore also will be relied upon to lead the team. 

Kilgore will move over to the left side, after starting on the right side since her freshman season.

“She’s going to be the terminator,” O’Quinn said. “She’s always been second in kills behind Sara.”

Davies and Ritter will anchor the middle and run the Spartans’ fast-tempo offense. If the Spartans are to succeed, they will have to get the ball to the middle hitters.

“More so than ever, because we are so experienced in the middle, our first contact has to be the best, because we have to be able to run our middle,” O’Quinn said.

If a three-peat is to be achieved, or any championship for that matter, teams must acquire certain characteristics and habits. Those begin at the daily grind of practice.

 “Every single practice, we’re going to go in knowing that we’re going to put everything out there and try as hard as we can every practice,” Davies said.

The Spartans are also known for filling the gym with a buzz. 

“When people walk in the gym, people have no idea if we’re losing or winning. We have so much energy on the court, and it carries us through and keeps us pushing,” Kilgore said.

Another factor is how well the team gets along with each other, important in a team sport such as volleyball, where each player on the court is reliant upon the rest of the team at all times.

“We all get along well, and I think it helps with our energy and the way we play,” Ritter said.

The Spartans must stay focused on each task at hand in O’Quinn’s eyes, and she said it is her job to ensure the team is able to do that. Aiming for a third title in a row is not easy, after all.

“We have all these stepping stones before we can even think about a state championship,” she said.

A big stepping stone will be Area 6, as the Spartans are joined by Spain Park, Oak Mountain and Huffman. Spain Park and Oak Mountain appear to be the main challengers, but only the top two teams will make it past the area tournament.

“Our area’s going to be stronger this year than it’s been in the past. We have to focus on that, and we can’t be thinking about that [a state championship] until that part is done,” O’Quinn said.

Whether they can do it is not a question in the team’s mind.

 “I think we’re going to surprise a lot of people this year,” Ritter said.

The Spartans begin the season at home Aug. 25, hosting a tri-match with Hoover and McGill-Toolen.