MAYOR'S CUP TOURNEY: MA comes up a win short in annual volleyball tourney
Montgomery Academy’s Addison Kitchens with a spike over two Briarwood defenders during the Mayor’s Cup tournament at the Cramton Bowl Multiplex. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
A rebuilt team with a new coach? It might have been Montgomery Academy living up to the program’s standards, but it certainly seemed a bit surprising to see so many new faces back in the championship game of the annual Mayor’s Cup on Saturday afternoon.
“Surprise probably makes me sound like I don’t trust my team,” said the new coach, Carly Falcione, “but I am a little surprised in some ways because we are younger. We have one senior. I’m asking people that don’t have a ton of varsity experience produce for me this year so it’s been a fun surprise to see everybody take this expectation of winning and put it on their backs and run with it.”
The Eagles (21-2) fell just short of their goal, reaching the finals before losing in two sets to Briarwood Christian, 26-28 and 13-25.
“I will give Briarwood credit,” Falcione said. “Very disciplined, very talented, very fundamentally sound players. And they’re actually very young, which I was impressed by. We beat some teams in tight sets and we watched them turn over and fold. How are we going to respond in that next set (after leading 18-10 and losing 28-26)? Are we going to fold, are we going to struggle, are we going to lose communication? Are we going to compete? The score was not great, but I thought we competed for every point. That’s the thing I cannot coach that I was immensely proud of.”
Just as impressive is Montgomery Academy’s journey through the Mayor’s Cup, defeating Prattville Christian, St. Paul’s, Providence Christian, Northside, Houston Academy and Catholic without losing a set. The loss to the Lions in the finals represents only the fourth and fifth sets the Eagles have dropped all season.
“I was happy with our energy,” Falcione said. “We had a tri-match on Thursday, had two matches on Friday and five more today, that’s a lot to ask out of these kids. I was very impressed that we were able to keep the energy that we did and fight and battle with every point regardless of the circumstances. It’s something that you want ingrained in your team going into the end of October. You’re going to be tired, you’re going to be hurt, who’s going to figure out a way to win.”
The Mayor’s Cup, an annual collection of some of the top 20 volleyball programs in Alabama, is divided into four pools of five teams each, with the top two teams advancing to the Gold bracket, the third and fourth-place teams advancing to the Silver bracket and the fifth team eliminated.
Advancing to the Gold bracket were Spanish Fort, John Carroll, Briarwood Christian, Houston Academy, Montgomery Academy, Prattville Christian, Catholic and Hartselle.
Montgomery Academy, Catholic, Briarwood Christian and Spanish Fort advanced from the quarterfinals, with Montgomery Academy defeating Catholic 2-0 in the semifinals and Briarwood defeating Spanish Fort 2-1 in the semifinals.
For the Eagles, Morgan Springer had 32 kills, eight blocks, seven aces and 15 digs, Caroline Wood had 14 kills and four blocks, Bennett Britt had 31 kills, three blocks and 17 digs, E.G. Hines had 12 kills, four aces and 36 digs, Addison Kitchens had 16 kills and two blocks, Rehmat Sidhu had five aces, 15 digs and 98 assists and Kaci Armistead had 69 digs and six assists.
Springer, one of the few holdovers from last year’s team with significant experience, hit two milestones on Saturday, recording her 100th career ace and her 200th career block.
For the Knights, Joi McGuire had 46 kills, five blocks, 52 digs and five aces, Zaria Rudolph had 32 kills, 16 blocks, 42 digs, 76 assists and eight aces, Kierstyn Green had 38 kills, 10 blocks, 33 digs and five aces, Lucy Logsdon had 37 kills, 36 digs, five aces and 82 assists and Ava Bierly had 72 digs.
Advancing to the Silver bracket were Pike Road, Trinity, Pelham, Brew Tech, St. Paul’s, Providence Christian, St. Luke’s and Prattville.
St. Paul’s, St. Luke’s, Providence Christian and Pike Road advanced from the quarterfinals, with St. Luke’s defeating St. Paul’s in the semifinals and Pike Road defeating Providence Christian in the semifinals. St. Luke’s won the consolation bracket.
Falcione, in her first year taking over for retired Hall of Fame coach Julie Gordon, said every team certainly has its own identity but she has been careful about comparisons or making changes.
“I’ve really tried to respect a lot of the culture that they have,” she said. “I definitely don’t, in my first year, want to be the bulldog that blazes through everything. I want to respect some of the tradition that they love and have. But I’ve also brought some things from the collegiate realm that I try to incorporate. We’ve done a lot more in the weight room than they ever have so seeing them buy into that has been fun.”
She has also made a habit of playing most, if not all, of her players in every match.
“We’re very, very undersized for a 6A school, really any classification in general, but they don’t get scared of anything,” Falcione said. “I do know they’ve lost (from last year’s team) some all-state players, some big hitters, so it’s been fun to work with my setter (Rehmat Sidhu) and help us figure out how to put people in different positions for the most successful way to score. We need kills from all of our attackers. We don’t get to rely on throwing the ball up to somebody and go get it. It’s been fun to see everyone step up in their own way. We truly have to have all attackers to get the job done.”
Surprised at the early success? Falcione really isn’t, although if you listen closely to the first-year coach, you’ll probably get the idea that she wasn’t sure that a rebuilding year with a new coach would result in a 21-2 start to the season and another trip to the Mayor’s Cup finals.
“When I first came in, I really wanted to take this year and just get to know the kids, get to know the culture,” Falcione said. “And I’ve just enjoyed every moment of it because they’ve refused to quit, they’ve done everything I’ve asked, they work hard with everything I’ve given them. They enjoy each other. That was huge. They genuinely enjoy playing with each other and that’s something I can’t coach.”