Caledonia and New Hope both advanced to the second round of the MHSAA Class 5A volleyball playoffs Tuesday as each team captured an opening-round win on the road. Starkville and West Lowndes didn’t have as much luck in their opening round playoffs games and closed out their seasons in defeats in the first round.
The Cavaliers only dropped on set to Florence, the No. 1 seed from Region 2, in a 3-1 victory. The team overcame a three-hour bus ride and an early eight-point deficit to Eagles in the first set and managed to win 28-26. Florence rallied in the second set for a narrow 28-26 win, but it was all Caledonia the rest of the way as the Cavs handily won the third set 25-13 and the fourth set 25-17. There was a lot of adversity thrown at the Cavs, but head coach Samantha Brooks said she is proud of how her team responded.
“That was exciting to see going into the playoffs,” Brooks said. “Seeing the confidence in the girls and the fight in them. … I think we just got our footing, got our bearings and settled in and played the game that we knew we needed to play.”
The win moves the team to the second round where it will take on a familiar foe in Pontotoc, which finished second in Region 1, at 6 p.m. today in Pontotoc. Caledonia has had some luck against the Warriors this season, splitting their region games 1-1, and also earned a 2-0 win over them in a mid-season tournament. Pontotoc comes into the match after defeating Lanier 3-0.
“Honestly, the game can go either way,” Brooks said. “It’s going to be about who shows up, who’s got the most grit, who makes the least amount of mistakes. … Pontotoc for starters has great athletic programs. They’re coached very well and they won a state championship the year before us and you think about things like that in making that return to the state championship. That’s what makes them a great team. They’ve got a big hitter, she plays all the way around, and she is a very dynamic hitter. She got a lot of kills, I want to say she had 24 kills alone in our last four-set matchup, so that kind of says what our goal is – to keep the ball away from her.”
New Hope had no issue in sweeping Vicksburg 3-0 in its first-round match. The Trojans held the Gators under 10 points in each set as it claimed the first two 25-6 and the third set 25-7.
The win sets up a second-round showdown with Lafayette, the No. 1 seed from Region 1 and the reigning back-to-back 5A champions at 6 p.m. today in Oxford. The Trojans and Commodores faced off twice this season in conference games and Lafayette, which advanced to the second round by beating Cleveland Central 3-0, only dropped one set to New Hope as it won both matches.
End of the road
Starkville saw its season come to a close in the first round of the Class 7A playoffs on Tuesday at Lewisburg in a 3-0 loss. The Yellow Jackets fell in a close 27-25 in the first set but had its momentum taper off in the second set where it fell 25-7. Starkville kept it close in the final set against the reigning back-to-back 7A champions but couldn’t pull ahead in a season-ending 25-21 defeat. The Yellow Jackets end their 2025 campaign 12-25-1. Despite the early exit, the season gave an opportunity for some of the younger Jackets to get a chance to gain some experience, which will help fill the voids left by their outgoing seniors.
“I think we have a lot returning. It’s good that some of those girls got to get some experience (Tuesday) in a playoff setting,” Mullane said. “When you have a young team I think that’s all that you can ask for, that they learn from it, they grow from it and be exposed to it early on. Hopefully they can remember that feeling and strive to come back to that experience.”
West Union got the best of West Lowndes Tuesday as it pulled away to hand the Panthers a 3-0 defeat in the second round of the Class 1A playoffs. The season was one full of growth for West Lowndes, which wanted to build upon and polish its fundamental skills of the game. Head coach Ashley Clark said her Panthers showed progress and battle all the way down to their final set.
“I saw my girls be fighters this year. No matter what teams we played, I saw them being fighters,” Clark said.
But that willingness to scrap and claw for every point seemed to slip away against West Union.
“It seems like when we get to the second round we kind of get a little nervous,” she said.
The loss marked the second year in a row the team fell in the second, and Clark said a goal for the team moving forward is to find a way to make it to the third round. Retaining all of her experienced players, not losing anyone to graduation, is something Clark said will help them achieve their goal.
“Toward the last five games I played with a lot of different lineups just to see what would be the best fit for us next year, and I did get an idea of it,” Clark said. “The girls, they got an idea of it, and when you have a team that understands that change is for the better for the team’s needs, not a player’s needs, that’s a plus that comes along with it. I believe next year the majority of the girls are going to love the new positions and the new lineup because they understood toward the end that everything I do is for the team’s needs. So, I think next year will be a great year for us because we’ve been there.”
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