The Heritage Academy volleyball team has heard co-coaches Liz Byrne and Liz Salstrand use the word urgency in practice and when breaking huddles.
The word is meant to convey to the players that they need to play with a purpose and a resolve at all times.
On Tuesday night, the Lady Patriots learned just what they can accomplish when they play with a little of that urgency.
Harli Sesser tied for match-high honors with 16 kills, and Mary Douglass Kerby added eight kills, including three in the final set, to push Heritage Academy to a 3-2 victory against Starkville at the Mississippi University for Women’s Stark Gymnasium. Set scores were 21-25, 23-25, 25-23, 25-18, 16-14.
“In seasons past, that was one thing we were not great at: closing matches,” Byrne said. “We would get to the fifth game, but their experience prevented us from closing matches out.”
The victory was Heritage Academy’s first against Starkville in its three-year history. It also is believed to be the first time the Lady Patriots have rallied from an 0-2 deficit.
“It was like fire under us,” Sesser said of the 0-2 deficit. “We wanted to come back and beat them. It was more important to come back and beat them than it was before we started. I just think we got angry and we wanted to beat them. We have lost to them so many times, and this is our first game. We didn’t want to start the season on a downfall.”
Heritage Academy never trailed in the third set to get the momentum rolling. Kerby had a kill off a punch on a third touch that helped give the Lady Patriots set point at 24-21. A kill by Carr and an ace by Carr cut Heritage Academy’s lead to 24-23 before Starkville lost a joust at the net to keep the match going.
In the fourth set, Kerby had three aces in a serving run that turned a 12-12 tie into a 17-12 lead. The Lady Patriots also capitalized on two hitting errors and a missed set. Kristen Phillips closed the set with four consecutive points, including a kill by Sesser and a ace, to force a fifth set.
This time, Starkville broke out quickly and led 5-4 before Allie Allsup’s serving run gave the Lady Patriots the lead for good. Allsup had two aces and Kerby had a kill to extend the lead to 9-5. The lead grew to 12-7 before Carr went on a service run to cut the deficit to 12-11. Service errors played a huge role down the stretch and helped put Michelle Li in position to serve an ace that tied the set at 14. A service error gave Heritage Academy match point. Phillips’ aces sealed the deal.
“Some of the games I remember the most from college are the ones when we were down two and came back to win,” said Salstrand, a former player at the University of Alabama. “We tell our girls it doesn’t matter the scenario, you can always win a match with urgency, desire, heart. It is always possible. I think this match will be remembered forever.
Said Byrne, “Everything came together tonight. It was so great to watch because we teach them all of these skills. They have all of the tools, ad they put it all together tonight. It is so beautiful to watch.”
Heritage Academy opened the season last weekend at a tournament at Tuscaloosa Christian. Byrne and Salstrand said the matches, which don’t count against the team’s record, helped the Lady Patriots work the kinks out and be prepared for Starkville. Still, Sesser said the team got off to a rough start in the first set. It nearly event the match by taking the second set, but a block and a kill by April Reese accounted for the final two points for Starkville and helped it take a 2-0 lead.
But Starkville’s inconsistent play caught up to it in the final three games. Even though Khris Carr tied for match-high honors with 16 kills and Reese had nine and two and a half blocks, the Lady Yellow Jackets made too many unforced errors and had difficulty in serve receive, which prevented them from staying in system.
“We had unforced errors, mental errors, and we just didn’t stay focused throughout,” Starkville coach Lauren Love said. “They had hustle and heart and had some scoring runs on us that we weren’t able to come back from.”
Love said the team struggled with similar ups and downs last weekend at the Set It Off Challenge in Jackson, an annual tournament that features some of the state’s top programs. Against Heritage Academy, the team showed flashes it can be a strong hitting team with Carr, Reese, Kayla Minor (six kills), and Tanita Thompson (four kills, two blocks). Unfortunately, the mistakes and the Lady Patriots’ resolve were too much to overcome.
“We try to stay focused throughout our practices and all of the drills,” Love said. “You can see it is detrimental if we lose focus for one point it can turn into 10 points really quickly. We just have to play hard every single point.”
Sesser agreed the victory helped set the bar higher for the program, especially because Starkville is one of the best teams Heritage Academy will play this season.
“After this, we’re expected to win our games,” Sesser said. “We’re expected to beat this kind of team.
“I think the girls see what we can do if we work together. That is the biggest part of volleyball, working together as a team. I think they see it and they know what we can do now. It might have been a little iffy before, but we just beat Starkville, so were pretty happy. I think they know we can do this kind of stuff.”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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