Down goes No. 1.
Caledonia sent a shockwave through the Region 1-5A volleyball standings Thursday by sweeping region leader and back-to-back 5A champion Lafayette 3-0 in the Cavaliers’ gym to hand the Commodores their first conference loss of the season.
Caledonia (14-10-1, 5-2), which lost its first match against Lafayette 3-0 on Aug. 28, won the first two sets 25-20 and then closed out the match with a 25-19 victory that handily retained its spot in the region standings at No. 2. The Cavs’ win gives them five region victories to match leader Lafayette, which stands now at 5-1 in conference games.
“That was a big win for us,” head coach Samantha Brooks said. “Honestly, our offense was something that has been lacking in consistency this season, and we just pulled it together offensively. Our setter did a great job of setting our pins. Another thing that’s notable was when we did hit into the block, we did cover well and picked up some balls that could have dropped and changed some things.
“We went in without being afraid; we played loose. Sometimes in those types of games you maybe feel like you’re beat before you even go in, being that we had already been swept by them a few weeks ago, so we just went in with confidence. In practice we watched some film on them and worked on some things we thought would be to our advantage, and it was. It was really a great night.”
The victory gave the team some confidence going forward that it “1,000% needed,” but the seeds of that confidence were planted last Saturday at a volleyball tournament in Tupelo. Caledonia beat Olive Branch 2-0 and New Hope 2-0, right after the Trojans swept them, and “played well” against Tupelo and New Albany in 2-0 losses.
“That was the turning point for us,” Brooks said.
The Cavs’ spot at No. 2 is not yet set in stone. A losing streak to end the season could prove costly to their playoff seeding with three more conference wins left to play. Conversely, a few more wins and some Commodore setbacks could slide them in the No. 1 spot. The regular season ends on Oct. 12 with a contest at region foe Columbus (2-11, 1-4), which is No. 5 in the standings, just above West Point (5-8, 0-6). The Green Wave are yet to be victorious in a region game.
But up next for the Cavs is a 6:30 p.m. Monday nonconference game hosting Amory.
“I feel like we have what it takes to compete for a state championship this year, and to beat the defending state champions for 5A from the last two season, I think that was a massive boost to (our) confidence, and I think it’s going to help us as we move forward in the playoffs and toward that big goal that we have.”
To make matters more interesting in the region, right behind Caledonia is rival New Hope.
The Trojans (9-19, 3-2) notched back-to-back region wins on Thursday with a 3-0 sweep at Columbus to climb to the No. 3 spot in conference standings.
New Hope had no issue in putting away the Falcons and won the first set 25-5, the second set 25-4 and the third 25-6.
Despite being two conference games behind the Cavs, the Trojans have an opportunity to gain some ground with five straight conference games left on the schedule before the end of the regular season. On Sept. 23 they’ll play at leader Lafayette, then host No. 4 Pontotoc (12-13-1, 2-2) before a showdown at rival Caledonia on Sept. 30 that could have seeding implications. Their regular season closes on Oct. 2 with a visit from West Point.
The Trojans know that if they play well down the stretch they can make up some ground and make even more noise in the standings.
“(The team) does a pretty good job of keeping up with everybody, and we kind of got in that situation last year as well. Trying to control what we can control has been my message, ‘One swing, one pass at time at this point,’” head coach Laura Lee Holman said. … “(I’m) just hoping my kids keep that mentality of just that, ‘One play at a time and don’t try to look too far down the road or look at the what-ifs.’ Just control how we play and hope that what we do and what we bring each night is going to be good enough to grab some W’s and see if we can’t move up the ladder.”
In other volleyball action this week, West Lowndes slipped to 2-4 in Region 3-1A games on Thursday in a 3-0 loss at Ingomar.
The Falcons lead the region with a 5-0 mark in conference games, and the Panthers (5-12) hold down the No. 4 slot. Two more region games remain for West Lowndes, beginning with Monday’s 6:30 p.m. contest at Tupelo Christian Prep, which is No. 2 in the standings.
Hartfield Academy softball 3, Starkville Academy 2
The Hawks got a three-run home run from Bailey King in the bottom of the sixth inning to lift Hartfield to a climatic 3-2 District 2-4A victory over Starkville Academy in Ridgeland.
The game was scoreless through the first five innings of play before the fireworks started. The Vols struck first with two runs in the top of the sixth behind an RBI bunt from Lauren Adkerson and a fielding error from the Hawks that brought home Molly Ingram. Emmi Miller grounded out to second base to bring home Adkerson for the 2-0 lead before King’s homer in the bottom provided the difference.
HA outhit SA 6-3, and Azleigh Slivka was the third Vol to put a ball in play with a single. Ingram pitched six innings from the circle and gave up all three earned runs and six hits with one walk and one strikeout. Bailey pitched for HA and fanned seven Vols at the plate and walked four.
Starkville Academy (9-7, 2-4) has two games left to play before the postseason and hosts Central Holmes Christian at 6 p.m. Monday. SA ends the regular season by hosting Oak Hill Academy at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
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