STARKVILLE — Caledonia volleyball coach Samantha Brooks joked with libero Emma McKee pulled a serve long during the fourth set of Thursday’s match at Starkville.
“Did you use all your serves up?” Brooks teased the Cavaliers junior.
It was a valid question after McKee powered Caledonia to victory in a critical third set, sparking the Cavaliers’ 3-1 win over the Yellow Jackets on Thursday night. Set scores were 25-18, 24-26, 25-20 and 25-19.
With Caledonia up 22-20 in the third, McKee unleashed three straight serves Starkville couldn’t handle, giving her team a lead of two sets to one and seizing momentum on the road.
“We needed that,” Brooks said. “We needed that finish. That was important.”
The sequence put Caledonia (6-3) over the top in a match where every set was closely contested. The Jackets (4-9) gave the Cavaliers nearly all they could handle but were unable to force a winner-take-all fifth set.
Starkville coach Haley Maughan said she felt good about her team’s performance in spite of the scoreline.
“We fought hard every point, just about, and I told them we could leave with our heads held high from that,” Maughan said. “I’m glad that we got a set off of them.”
The Jackets claimed a long second set thanks to sophomore Zariyah Edwards, who blocked a Caledonia attack to tie things at 24-all and landed the winning shot two points later.
Edwards and Starkville had their blocking going throughout a very even set, which featured plenty of ties and lead changes. After Caledonia scored four straight points to equalize at 16-all, the teams alternated the next eight points.
Starkville fell behind 24-22 before taking four straight to even up the match at a set apiece.
The Jackets’ success wouldn’t last.
“We struggled in that second set when they really started blocking us and struggled a little bit to find a way around it, but we finally did, and it was effective,” Brooks said.
Caledonia pulled away at the end of the third set, fueled by McKee’s stellar serving. Just prior, a big-time kill by sophomore Ivyann Taylor put the Cavs up two points at 20-18.
Taylor had her hand in Caledonia’s road win — literally — with key plays throughout the match, including a key tip early in the second set and a kill late in the fourth.
Brooks said the 6-foot-2 middle blocker is still growing, both physically and in her knowledge of the game.
“We’ve seen her quicken her footwork up, and she’s learning with her height to see what’s open on the floor,” Brooks said. “She’s been effective for us, and we expect to continue to see great things out of her.
“It’s intimidating when she walks in,” the Caledonia coach added. “It just is. It’s intimidating for the other team.”
Starkville certainly didn’t seem intimidated Thursday. The Jackets’ junior varsity team was a constant — and loud — presence behind the home side of the court, and the bench brought noise and energy throughout.
It was just what Maughan hoped to see after another strong crowd in Tuesday’s home match against Oxford.
“I could feel the electricity, and I’m still kind of coming down from the high of it,” she said. “I think it was great. The fans showed up and showed out tonight. It was a really good environment for the girls.”
But Caledonia thrives in atmospheres like Thursday’s, and the Cavaliers showed it. Unable to play the near-perfect game it needed, Starkville came up short.
“I came in expecting scrappiness and aggression from them, and I think we gave it right back,” Maughan said. “I think what it came down to was we made more mistakes than they did.”
A coaching connection
Maughan was a standout under Brooks at Caledonia, graduating in 2016.
To the first-year Starkville coach, sharing the sidelines with her high school coach felt “different.”
“I think the biggest thing is looking across and being on the opposite side away from her and realizing, ‘We’re opponents right now. We’re not friends,’” Maughan said. “It’s a really different dynamic. It was kind of odd how weird that felt. It was just like a full-circle moment.”
This isn’t the first time Brooks has coached against a former player; her daughter Tori is currently in her second season as head coach at Heritage Academy.
But seeing Maughan man the Starkville sideline brought back a similar feeling.
“Just like with Tori, it’s fun,” Brooks said. “I know they’re going to continue to grow and be good. She’s such an awesome person and former player.”
Other scores
Prep softball
Starkville Academy 17, Heritage Academy 0, three innings
Starkville Academy softball followed up its recent 20-0 win over Heritage Academy with a 17-0 victory on the run rule in three innings Thursday in Columbus.
Calliope Koiva led the Volunteers with four hits and added three RBIs. Arlee Oswalt also drove in three runs, as did Sarah Sellers.
Oswalt and Arden Parker had two hits each.
Starkville Academy’s next game is at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at Washington School. Heritage Academy will play a doubleheader beginning at 4 p.m. Wednesday at Magnolia Heights.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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