SUPER REGIONAL: Montgomery Academy returns to state tourney after win over Holy Spirit
Montgomery Academy’s libero, EG Hines, returns a shot during the win over Holy Spirit on Wednesday at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
Morgan Springer and her fellow four seniors at Montgomery Academy went to the state tournament as freshmen in 2023 and brought home a Class 5A state championship trophy.
They expected to return in 2024. And in 2025.
For a volleyball program that had earned 26 trips to the state tournament, Wednesday couldn’t get here soon enough as the Eagles blasted Holy Spirit 25-11, 25-12 and 25-12 to earn their first trip to the state tournament since 2023.
“This just feels amazing,” Springer said, “because I know how much work has gone into it. It’s been a long time coming. Just being able to get to state senior year with this awesome group of girls, we’ve just worked so hard for it so it’s been awesome.”
Springer, Bennett Britt, Elinor Grace Hines, Rehmat Sidhu and Addison Kitchens made the trip to Birmingham in 2023 or heard the talk from older teammates. For others, like first-year coach Jada Coleman, a trip to the state tournament is a first.
“It feels great,” Coleman said. “These seniors deserve it, this team deserves it. We’ve been working since June and we’ve had some hard practices, some hard workouts. It’s a great perspective to be able to look at all of it, all those 120s, they’re all paying off now. We’re not tired, we’re into it, we’re ready to go. All of the hard work is paying off and this team is so deserving.”
Against Holy Spirit, Springer had 14 kills, two blocks, an ace and two digs, Emilyn Trott had 10 kills, an ace and eight digs, Caroline Wood had seven kills, a block and a dig, Sidhu had two blocks, seven digs and 33 assists, Hines had two kills, an ace and nine digs, Kitchens had seven kills and two digs, Preston Sullivan had a kill and a block, Kathleen Johnston had five aces and three digs, Lizzie Campbell had 12 digs and an assist, Caroline Sullivan had a dig and Evie Bailey had three assists.
“Bayside’s the next team on our list, the next team we’ve got to play and we’re just trying to focus on one game at a time,” Springer said. “It’s going to be a tough match, they’re a great team, but we’ve been preparing. It started in the summer and so we’re going to keep going forward.”
Against Bayside Academy, the Eagles won the first set 34-32, then dropped the next two 25-20 and 25-20 before winning the fourth set 15-16 and the fifth 15-7.
Bennett Britt had 19 kills, a block and three digs, Springer had 11 kills, five blocks and three digs, Hines had 15 kills, a block, 19 digs and an assist, Wood had nine kills, a block and a dig, Sidhu had a kill, three aces, 15 digs and 45 assists, Kitchens had five kills, two blocks and five digs, Trott had three kills, an ace and 12 digs, Campbell had an ace and 21 digs and Johnston had five aces and 18 digs.
Montgomery Academy (30-9) will be seeking its eighth South Super Regional title since the format was invented in 2012. The Eagles will play area runner-up Prattville Christian on Thursday at 1 p.m.
“One of my seniors, Morgan Springer, said, ‘the best feeling is winning state, the worst feeling is knowing you could have beaten a team,’” Coleman said. “The one thing firing us up right now is I asked them, ‘What does a state championship mean to you?’ Bennett Britt said, ‘Everything.’ So our word right now is ‘everything.’ Every single point has to be everything, every single set has to be everything. All out, all everything.”