Frank Couch
The Mountain Brook volleyball team took center court at Bill Harris Arena on Thursday morning with a lot on the line.
Just one last match, the Spartans’ 63rd of the 2015 season, stood between the reigning Class 7A champions and a second consecutive state title.
Facing a top-seeded McGill-Toolen squad that stormed to the South Region crown in nine straight sets and dropped only two games in its past six matches, everything the Spartans had been working for all year came down to this: first to three games earns the right to hoist the blue trophy. For the loser, a season on the brink becomes defined by what could have been.
But the Spartans, inspired by an unfathomably courageous classmate, were playing for much more than a medal in the season’s decisive match.
In fact, the Spartans had been playing for a larger cause throughout the entire tournament. This year’s state championships, as evidenced by the pink shirts donned by team members and fans with the phrase “SPARTANS ARE SID STRONG!” scrawled across the back, would be dedicated to 16-year-old Sid Ortis.
“Mountain Brook is such a community and I just feel like it’s our part as like a family to honor Sid because we’re all one and we’re all so close as a community and a school,” senior Payton Selman said. “I think it’s important for us to honor Sid through playing.”
Sid's battle with osteosarcoma, or bone cancer, has been well documented, his strength and faith through the terminal disease serving as a symbol of hope for the entire community.
After being diagnosed in Aug. 2014, he persevered through chemotherapy and multiple surgeries, receiving praises of encouragement and support from a number of celebrities throughout his battle.
Chief among Sid's supporters has been LSU’s Les Miles, coach of his favorite team. Miles has reached out to Sid on multiple occasions, including after the decision was made on Oct. 17 to bring Sid back from Children’s of Alabama so that he could spend his final days under hospice care in his own home.
“I think that’s definitely something in the back of their minds, and it’s great to see a visual reminder of what they’ve chosen to play for,” Mountain Brook coach Haven O’Quinn said. “Every time you step on the court you’re playing for a reason. Sometimes it’s good for them to have a group focus because I think they all have their individual reasons, but I think it’s great for our team.”
Intensely motivated and full of inspiration, the Spartans brought their A-game to Thursday’s state championship match, battling to their third consecutive straight-set victory of the tournament (27-25, 25-23, 25-16) and clinching the school’s second straight Class 7A state title.
As its done throughout the season, the team stayed poised under pressure, rallying when down and finding a way to win critical points at clutch moments.
“I think just knowing that we were playing for something, I mean obviously we were playing for us, but also we were playing for something so much bigger than that,” senior Sara Chandler Mitchell said. “That really, I think, pushed us forward.”
