Pope beats Walton to win first volleyball championship

By Michael Carvell and Jeff Haws

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Archrivals Pope and Walton had one of the closest battles in the history of volleyball’s state championship matches, with Pope barely holding for the Class AAAAA title Saturday.

The dueling Cobb County schools each won two games, forcing a tiebreaker. Trailing 13-8 in the tiebreaker, Pope scored seven points in a row to win 15-13 and capture the school’s first volleyball title.

“Walton played awesome, but we were able to pull it out,” Pope coach Bryan Jones said. “My heart was pounding there at the end. Fortunately, Walton made some errors, and we avoided them. I guess it was just meant to be for us.”

Hannah Arrington, Pope’s only senior, was the server for the match’s last seven points, and also added 19 kills. Mary Hoey had 21 kills, while Hannah Farmer set a school record for most assists in a one match with 55.

Class AAAA

Whitewater swept Marist 3-0 for the Fayette County program’s first state championship, but it wasn’t as easy as it looked.

The Wildcats won the opening game 25-12, but had to rally from deficits of 5-0 and 9-1 to narrowly claim the final two by the scores of 27-25 and 28-26.

“What an honor to win a state title, and to win it the way we did it -- refusing to quit,” Whitewater coach Ben Thacker said. “Marist has been the gold standard for volleyball in this area for a long time, and to beat them really says a lot for our kids.”

Class AAA

Down to its final point in the second set, Woodward Academy was close to finding itself in a 1-1 match headed to the third set.

But the War Eagles held off Columbus on four set points, eventually taking the set to go up by two and then cruising  in the third to win in straight sets, 25-21, 28-26, 25-15.

It’s the second consecutive title for Woodward and the school’s seventh in nine years.

“We just survived; that’s probably the word there,” coach Tad Sahara said. “Volleyball’s such a momentum sport that, even in a third game up 2-0, you could lose that. You never know. Certainly, it was huge that we were able to pull that one out.”

Zoey Morton led Woodward with 18 digs and nine kills. Briana Spruill had a team-high 13 kills, and Kelsey Eastman added 31 assists.

Class A/AA

Wesleyan staved off three set points in the third set, winning the final five points to beat Westminster in straight sets, 25-17, 25-21, 26-24 to win its fifth state title in six years. The victory denied the Wildcats a second consecutive championship.

The Wildcats (29-13) had their chance to get back into the match after losing the first two sets, as they took a 20-17 lead with a 5-0 run, then maintained that lead to get to a 24-21 advantage a few minutes later.

But consecutive kills by Maggie Smith and Alana Broe got Wesleyan (34-17) closer, and Anna Keappler closed out the match with two more after a Westminster tipped ball landed out to tie up the score. After not serving for several weeks, Callie Bivings was able to put five straight in play to give Wesleyan a shot.

Even with a 2-0 lead in the match, Smith said that was a nervous moment for the team, not wanting to let the defending state champions gain any momentum.

“We just really relied on each other because we did not want it to go to four games because they’re a dangerous team,” she said.

Wesleyan coach Ted Russell knew how important it was to close out Westminster when his team had an opportunity.

“I told them to make sure they cover each other’s back,” Russell said. “One of the things we’ve done well this year is support each other. We’ve always talked about, it can’t be one person who wins it; it’s got to be everybody.”

That’s been a big rallying point all season for the Wolves, who entered the year with only three seniors on the roster.