Choctaw County volleyball is region champion for the second time in three years.
The Lady Chargers wrapped up Region 4 for Class I with a 25-15, 25-12, 25-22 victory over Amory, improving the team's region record to 11-0. Choctaw County will begin the playoffs Oct. 17 with a home match against Region 3 runner-up Senatobia.
Two years ago, a senior-heavy Choctaw County team won Region 3, then defeated Hickory Flat 3-2 in the opening round of the playoffs before losing to St. Andrew's 3-2 in the second round.
A Lady Charger team without any seniors failed to make the playoffs last year.
Choctaw County coach Miranda Worrell expressed pride in her team’s accomplishments. “They worked really hard this year, and I feel they earned this division championship because they had to beat some good, athletic teams to win it.
“They faced some adverse conditions Thursday night (against Amory) when we were down and they came back to finish off the third set instead of extending it to four, which was really good.”
Five seniors – Leah Hammons, Mary Claire Cagle, Veronica Molina, Caden Miles and LaGenesis Johnson -- played a major role in the team’s success. “I’m really happy these seniors get to put a trophy in the case,” Worrell said. “They were really disappointed last year to not even make the playoffs and that gave them a strong desire to do better this year, and they have met one goal of many now.”
Molina had a strong match against Amory with four aces and 23 service receptions. Cagle and Hammons also had four aces and Miles had 13 assists.
Prior to the Amory match, Choctaw County was defeated by 5A power New Hope 25-11, 25-9, 25-18. Cagle had five digs, Miles 10 assists and Hammons and Molina 13 service receptions each.
The Lady Chargers played their final region game Tuesday at Aberdeen. Choctaw County won the first matchup 3-1 last month. The final regular season game will be at home next Tuesday against Grace Christian.
Choctaw County defeated Senatobia 27-25 and 25-15 in a season opening tournament in Ridgeland.
“I look forward to playing Senatobia again,” Worrell said. “We faced them in the Set It Off Tournament at the beginning of the year, and this will be a good chance to gauge how much we’ve improved since then. They will be good competition as well.”
Choctaw County is ranked 10th in Class I, two places ahead of Senatobia, by the website MaxPreps. The top five in the rankings are all private schools – Our Lay Academy, Resurrection, St. Andrew’s, Sacred Heart and St. Joseph.
Grace Christian picks up two more wins
Grace Christian School went on the road last week and won two matches against Alabama schools. The Lady Eagles rebounded from a first set defeat to down Pickens Academy 28-30, 25-14, 25-16, 25-16, then downed North River Christian 25-16, 25-13, 25-11.
“We were coming off a hard tournament the weekend before,” coach Jamey Willers said of the first set loss to Pickens. “We were kind of jumbled, not as focused. Then we started to get comfortable.”
Jasmine Kelly led the Lady Eagles with 14 kills and four blocks. Bella Brownlee had nine assists and seven digs, Anna Gillis 11 service points and five aces, Annabelle Crowder 17 service receptions and Caroline Robbins nine assists.
Maggie Phillips had 24 service points and nine aces against North River. Crowder had 13 service receptions and seven digs, Brownlee 25 assists, Kelly seven kills and Carly Peterson six kills.
Willers feels her team is playing its best. “We've gotten our service errors down a lot.”
Starkville canceled a match that was scheduled for Tuesday. The Lady Eagles have a match at Choctaw County next Tuesday.
