7th/8th grade girls win epic match to take home the title

In an epic three set thriller that will go down in St. Mary's Athletics history, the 7th/8th grade girls won the volleyball championship Monday night at St. Emydius beating St. Finn Barr 21-25, 27-25, 15-10.

After dropping the first set, the girls were pushed to elimination point in the second set twice. But the girls dug deep and rallied to win the second set. And then Edwena closed it out with an ace on championship point to capture the first place trophy.

The seven girls left everything they had out on that court, diving for every ball and fighting to the very last inch on each point. Never has a St. Mary's game had this much intensity.

For the entire match, the standing room only crowd was on the edge of their seat. The game was not for the faint of heart.

"My blood pressure was through the roof," said 7th/8th grade coach Mitchell.

He was probably calm for a little bit, at least in the latter stages of the second set.

It looked like the girls were well on their way to evening up the match when they led 23-19 in the second set. The girls were smiling and looked loose in the huddle during the timeout. But when they got back out onto the court, St. Finn Barr made a charge that even the girls didn't think they'd be able to handle.

"I was hecka scared," Fiona said.

After the girls lost serve, the toughest server on St. Finn Barr served three straight rockets over the net to tie the game at 23-23, forcing the 7th/8th graders to burn their last timeout. This time the huddle consisted of a lot of worried faces and it even had some of the girls on the brink of tears.

Karina said she saw that some of her teammates "were about to cry," and they were.

"I was about to (cry)," Ivy said. "It was like, let's get this over with, we're going to lose anyways."

The confidence in the huddle, even with the game tied, was at an all-time low.

"I felt like..this is over," Vivianna said. 

But the coaches and some of the players did their best to make sure the team stayed focused. The next few points would dictate whether the girls would see their fear become a reality.

On the next point, the same girl drilled another one for an ace, and it was championship point for St. Finn Bar.

St. Mary's caught a break when the next serve went long and the set was tied at 24-24.

The 7th/8th graders lost the next point but rebounded strong to tie the game back up at 25-25.

On the next point, the ball was inches from hitting the ground, but Edwena laid out and got an arm on the ball, popping it high enough for Vivianna to bump it back over the net. A girl on St. Finn Barr then hit the ball into the net, giving St. Mary's a one point advantage.

Then on set point, both teams traded rallies until Edwena struck a ball with an overhand that landed a good foot inside the end line, pushing the match to a decisive third set.

The girls jumped out to a 10-3 lead in the third set behind some good serving by Karina and Victoria and some sloppiness from St. Finn Barr. There was nothing too spectacular from the 7th/8th grade girls in that stretch but they played mistake free volleyball which got them the early lead.

But St. Finn Barr would not go away, and they climbed right back into the game.

Up 12-9, the St. Mary's girls thought they had scored a point and had gone up 13-9 when a ball sailed long. But the line judge ruled that Victoria touched the ball, and a point was awarded to St. Finn Barr to make it 12-10.

After the game, Victoria said she didn't touch the ball and from the looks of the instant replay, she didn't. The volleyball gods evened things out on the next point as St. Finn Barr served it out of bounds.

With the score 13-10, it was fitting that their strongest player Edwena stepped up to serve at the end. Her first serve went off a girls arms and the ball went flying into the wall. And then on championship point, Edwena hit the biggest serve in St. Mary's volleyball history. The low liner hit the floor and the celebration began.

This game was nothing like their playoff game when they were able to almost spike at will. They were on the defense most of the time, trying to fend off some incredibly hard spikes by St. Finn Barr.

After a shaky start, Edwena pulled it together in sets two and three and fought off hard spike after hard spike. The team as a whole did the same and because they were able to withstand those hits, they were able to pick up points little by little.

It was also imperative Edwena ended the game because had St. Finn Barr forced a sideout, their best server would've stepped up to the line. The team leader played huge on the biggest stage of them all.

"Edwena was miraculous," Mitchell said. "She didn't have to hit hard but she was placing the ball everywhere."

"She's a good influence for the rest of the girls, she's a court general."

What a sweet storybook ending for 8th graders Edwena, Ivy, Victoria and Fiona. It's their second straight volleyball championship, after winning it last year as part of the 7th/8th grade team. These four girls were part of teams that won one or two games a year when they first started. And now they finish their St. Mary's volleyball careers with back to back titles.

"In the beginning, we had very little hope of even winning half the games," Fiona said. "Few years later, we won the championship. Not everyone can say they won a championship."

The 7th graders, Karina, Vivianna and Britney brought their game to a whole new level in just a few months. Last year, they were playing with volley lites and just learning the game. A year later, they were thrown into the fire and needed to learn how to bump, set and spike in order to survive. The three also came into an environment that had girls who had already won it all.

"We just had to build a relationship with the new team," Karina said. "And we all worked together to get to the top."

"I couldn't have dreamed of it," Britney added about winning the championship.

It was a shame one of these teams had to lose, because both teams played well. This was a championship where one team was going to beat the other team, and not one where one team beat itself.

And good thing for St. Mary's, it was the team in red that came out on top.

"I'm really happy for them," said coach Tiffany Ye, who actually did an interview. "Especially being an 8th grade team, their last time playing together."

Their playing days on the volleyball court at St. Mary's could not have ended better. Now we'll see how far they can go after they're set free.

"They all have the tools and good traits," Mitchell said. "The sky's the limit."