BLACKSVILLE — The Trinity Christian High volleyball team successfully defended its 2023 Mason Dixon conference tournament championship Wednesday night inside the Statler-Wilson Gymnasium at Clay-Battelle Middle/High School.
The top-seeded Warriors defeated the No. 4 Cameron Dragons 3-1 in the semifinals and then earned the same result against No. 2 Notre Dame in the championship match to capture the trophy.
With the victories, the Warriors improved to 29-11-1 for the 2024 season and will carry their momentum from Wednesday night into next week as the postseason begins with sectional tournament play.
“Our first game of the day, we came into the game a little complacent and weren’t completely ready out of the gate,” TCS coach Anna Witt said. “Volleyball is such an up-and-down game and when our team can keep level heads and a steady mindset, they’re at their best. Giving into emotion can be helpful sometimes, because it helps us pull out tough wins, but it can also be negative if we don’t respond well and handle those emotions the right way. I’m proud of my girls for sticking together and responding well tonight.”
The Clay-Battelle Cee-Bees lost to Notre Dame 3-2 in a five-set thriller in the semifinals. The hosting Cee-Bees built a 2-0 lead after the opening two sets, but the Fighting Irish battled back to tie the match at two sets each, forcing a decisive game five.
Notre Dame opened a 6-3 lead early in the final set but the hosts fought back and eventually tied the game at ten.
Despite the fight, the Cee-Bees would fall short of the championship rematch with Trinity Christian, dropping the final set of the semifinals, 15-13, and the match, 3-2.
The championship match between Trinity Christian and Notre Dame, a rematch from Oct 10 won by TCS 3-1, saw the Warriors out to an early 15-7 lead in the opening set. Notre Dame chipped away at the lead and pulled to within five at 21-16 before finding the run it needed with five-straight points to tie the first set.
The Fighting Irish rode that wave of momentum to a 25-23 win in set one after being down by eight points.
Witt pulled her team into a tight circle and asked them one question.
“I simply asked them to remember who they are,” she said. “We need to play like we know how every single point. In a tournament setting, as a top seed, you’re going to get the best of every single team, every single player, every single moment. We need to remember that and try and play that way also. Like we have nothing to lose.”
Trinity Christian did just that, responding to its head coach and capturing the next three sets in succession (25-18, 25-15, 25-20) to bring home the Mason Dixon conference championship for the second-straight season.
With sectional tournaments beginning on Monday, Witt and her Warriors know how important the momentum of Wednesday is to bottle and carry into next week.
“We will see most of the teams we saw in this tournament next week and tonight really proved what’s at stake and how difficult the road can be if we aren’t focused,” she said. “This win is important to build us up, but we also need to make sure we shrink our heads and realize how much we have left in front of us if we want to reach our main goals.”
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