CALEDONIA — North Pontotoc had just secured the fourth set, preventing a late Caledonia comeback that began with the Cavaliers down 23-17.
The Cavs rattled off four straight points to cut the lead to 23-21, when the Vikings called a late timeout, killing Caledonia’s momentum as North Pontotoc won the set, 25-21, sending the match to a pivotal fifth set.
Caledonia, up 2-0 in Tuesday’s match at one point, now found itself tied at 2-2 with the deciding set to go, not to mention it was the second round of the MHSAA Class 4A playoffs, a win-or-go-home situation.
During the pre-set huddle, head coach Samantha Brooks told her team to be mentally tough in the fifth set and push through. That’s exactly what the Cavs did, dominating to win the set, 15-7, and the match, 3-2.
Set scores were 25-17, 25-14, 18-25, 21-25 and 15-7.
“We always say, ‘First to five, first to 10, first to win,’” Brooks said. “We had that little goal to push through every five points. If we aren’t first to five, let’s be first to 10 and then first to 15.”
In what was nearly a reverse sweep from North Pontotoc, the first two sets really didn’t reflect that on the court as Caledonia won relatively comfortably.
With the second set specifically, the Cavs finished off the set on a 7-4 win, looking dominant in all phases of the match.
However, the offense struggled in the third and fourth sets, missing shots, unable to produce shots and overall, the team came out flat and played flat.
“We were just getting in our heads a lot,” outside hitter Brianna Holliman said. “We need to calm down, take a breather and get out of it on our own. We couldn’t do anything else. It was hard because we were in our heads.”
Like the momentum shift between the first two and next two sets, the fifth set itself was a massive momentum swing in favor of Caledonia, and Holliman was at the front of the charge.
She registered several kills in the final set, becoming one of a select few in Caledonia history to record 200 kills in a single season.
The team leader in kills had great support behind her as all the outside hitters did, with players like Emma McKee and Emily Clark setting up a good chunk of kill attempts for the Cavs.
Clark in particular is feeling fantastic about how things are shaping up for Caledonia as it advances into the next round of the playoffs.
“It was huge for us because we started playing down in the third and fourth sets, but to come back like that, I think that really sets us off well in our quest for a state championship,” Clark said.
Caledonia will be hosting Tishomingo County in the state quarterfinals Thursday, a quick turnaround from Tuesday’s match.
That gives the Cavaliers one day of practice to fix things up, but that quick turnaround will be beneficial for them, keeping them fresh as they look to advance further in the postseason.
Having a match like this early on is exactly what Caledonia needed as the postseason continues.
“I think it’s good for us to have them close because we’ll have a practice in between, but we’ll keep that momentum from tonight going all the way through,” Clark said.
Caledonia last played Tishomingo County last season in tournament play, a 2-1 Cavaliers win, so if that’s any indication of what to expect on Thursday, expect a fantastic volleyball match.
Other scores
Lake Cormorant 3, Columbus 0
LAKE CORMORANT — Columbus’ season ended in the second round of the MHSAA Class 5A playoffs after losing in straight sets to Lake Cormorant on the road.
Set scores were 25-5, 25-5 and 25-8.
The Falcons were simply outplayed by the Gators, who dominated all three sets in the victory, preventing them from scoring in double figures in any set.
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