CALEDONIA — The Mississippi High School Activities Association volleyball playoffs got underway over the weekend, with Caledonia the first area team to compete in postseason action. The Class 1A-4A playoffs began on Saturday, and the 5A-7A playoffs are set to begin on Tuesday night.
The Cavaliers (16-18) won in straight sets over Senatobia on Saturday, 25-13, 25-14 and 25-18, to punch their ticket to the next round.
“It’s exciting,” Cavaliers head coach Samantha Brooks said. “I’m glad that we played a team as scrappy as Senatobia was because they gave us a run for our money several times. It was good for the girls, even though it was a sweep, to play against a competitive, scrappy team and pick up on our swings and tips.”
Caledonia went 8-0 against district opponents to claim home-court advantage in the opening rounds of the playoffs, but struggled against non-district opponents. It was those tests that Brooks attributed to her team’s ability to hold off comeback attempts from Senatobia to finish the job on Saturday.
“It’s important that they held their own,” she said. “We’ve talked about how our record doesn’t look pretty, but it’s because we scheduled tough all season. I feel like that’s contributed to them being in situations where they felt calmer and could work through it.”
Brooks added that her team had put in “admirable” work to improve over the course of the season, with many players ascending to starter roles occupied by last year’s senior class. They’ve learned the process of becoming a better team and working toward the postseason, and now they have a chance to make something of themselves against the best in their classification.
“It’s about doing the little things right, watching film, figuring out the other team’s weaknesses this season, working through our strengths and weaknesses and just getting out there and playing how we know we can play,” Brooks said. “If we do that we can be unstoppable, it’s just about doing it.”
The Cavaliers advanced to the second round and will host West Lauderdale at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
Elsewhere in the area, Starkville is set to begin its postseason run against Lewisburg in the Class 7A playoffs and New Hope will travel to the Delta to face Clarksdale in the 5A playoffs. Both Round 1 games will take place at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
The Jackets (14-10-1) secured the fourth seed in their division after winning just four matches in 2023, and are looking to make up for last year’s loss to the Patriots.
The Trojans (19-18) secured the third seed in their division and look to build on an impressive program postseason record.
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