When Caledonia High School volleyball players take the floor tonight in the MHSAA Class 4A semifinals, they will see a very familiar foe on the other side of the net.

Road victories over Kosciusko and New Albany earned the Cavaliers a trip to Pontotoc to face a Warriors team they have played twice this season.

“Pontotoc is well coached and knows how to dig deep,” Caledonia coach Samantha Brooks said. “They are a competitive program.”

The Cavs and Warriors each finished 7-1 in Class 4A, Region 2, splitting their two battles. Caledonia won 3-2 on Sept. 7 in Pontotoc, and Pontotoc won 3-1 three weeks later in Caledonia. 

“We beat them because we didn’t give up, we played our game, and we played with grit,” Brooks said.

Caledonia’s seniors agree that it’s a good matchup.

“I know that they are a well matched team for us,” Jalynn Hall said. “They are a tough team in our district, but we have beaten them before, and I am confident that we have the potential to win when we play them in round three.”

“i know Pontotoc quite well,” Lily Rose Parker said. “Pontotoc has an amazing libero, Caroline (Howard). She reads our hitters well and knows where to position herself. She is overall an outstanding player.”

Like Caledonia, which crushed Kosciusko in the opening round, Pontotoc was not tested in the first round, losing 23 points in a sweep of Greenwood. The Warriors followed that up with a four-set win over Tishomingo County.

The Cavs didn’t have it so easy in their second-round match Thursday. New Albany took a 2-1 lead — including a 25-12 rout in the second set — before Caledonia (15-12) rallied to win the final two sets 25-16 and 15-11.

“After losing the third set, we talked about it in the huddle and we all knew we were better than how we were playing, and we knew we had to start playing smarter and just putting the ball away,” senior Kaydence Sudduth said. “Our defense was doing very well; we just weren’t putting the ball away. Once we started playing smarter and just playing our game, we made our comeback.”

Hall agreed that playing smarter was part of the difference.

“Starting the fourth set, we knew that we could do it,” she said. “We have worked so hard all season at doing our best until the last point. With this, we took from it that it was time to play not only harder but smarter.

“We were able to find holes in the blocks and put the ball down as well as tip to open spots. We minimized errors and came back to win the fourth as well as the fifth set.”

Minimizing errors will be crucial against the Warriors (16-6), who reached the 4A state final last season. But the Cavaliers are playing with a belief in themselves after rallying to win in the second round.

“Overall, I would say that our team is confident in how we play,” Hall said. “We all have made errors, but we always do better the next ball. Individually, we each know the game well and know how important each of our roles on the team are. When everyone does their part, we can be confident that we will play at our full potential.”

Sudduth felt that way looking at the tournament matchups before the postseason began.

“I felt good going into the bracket, just knowing how well our team has been playing this year and the capability and talent we have as a team,” she said.

The Cavaliers are a young team — Hall, Parker and Sudduth are the team’s only seniors — but they do have plenty of volleyball experience.

“We do have a young team this year, but most of the girls on the team I have played with before, whether it was club or school ball,” Parker said. “I expected us to struggle in the beginning since we are just now all playing together again, and it does take time to get comfortable playing with each other, but I think we all understood our roles, and it’s leading us to win.”

One more win and the Cavs will find themselves in Saturday’s state final against each Stone or Pass Christian, and nobody thinks that win will come easily.

“I think it’s a pretty even matchup, and it’s going to be a very tough game,” Sudduth said. “Both teams are very talented and have had a great season. We split in division, which makes this even tougher. Both teams are going to be coming into the gym aiming to win, and I believe it is going to come down to which team is playing their best.”

Game time tonight in Pontotoc is 6 p.m.