Lady Trojans to face Battle Ground Academy in Thursday’s state championship
Photo: Sarah Johnson of Northpoint Christian gets ready to provide a set during Wednesday’s win against Goodpasture Christian School. (Bob Bakken/desotocountynews.com)
Oct. 23, 2024 -Volleyball is obviously a team game and it takes a lot of teamwork to become successful. That teamwork grows from the reserves to the back line, front line and middles, on the coaching staff on the bench directing everything.
In the case of the Northpoint Christian School squad that is playing Wednesday afternoon at 2 p.m. for the Division 2-A state title, successful teamwork has come from the top on down.
Coaches Kim Robinson and Rachel Huen have combined to put together a team that broke the barrier of winning in the state tournament with the four-set victory over Middle Tennessee Christian School late Tuesday night.
Reaching an elimination semifinal game Wednesday afternoon, the pair directed the 40-6 Lady Trojans into the championship game after a straight set sweep of Goodpasture Christian School (Nashville). Set scores in the contest were 25-23, 25-23, 25-16
With Wednesday’s victory, the Lady Trojans now face the only team that has beaten them in the tournament, Battle Ground Academy (Franklin, Tenn.). The Wildcats swept the Lady Trojans to open the tournament Tuesday afternoon.
Robinson is confident the team will be ready for the Wildcats this time around, having now gotten used to playing in the lights of a state tournament after the opening game Tuesday.
“It was first time jitters again,” Robinson said of her team’s uncharacteristic effort Tuesday. “We have a young team that has never seen this floor, never been in this environment before. To get a chance at a team like that, you don’t get it very often. We’re going to be ready for them.”
The first two sets were close, as indicated by the score. In the first set, Northpoint actually trailed by six before a comeback tied the set at 17-17 on a Goodpasture volley error. The next three points went to Northpoint for a 20-17 lead after a block for a point from Chrissy Nolan and a Goodpasture timeout. A Goodpasture error ended the set at 25-23 for Northpoint.
The Lady Trojans jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the second set, but the Cougars rallied to tie at 6-6. Northpoint retook the lead and a Nolan kill made the score 15-11 for the Lady Trojans.
A drop shot brought Goodpasture back within 22-20 for Northpoint but the Lady Trojans brought the margin back to 24-20 when Quinn Thurman and Kylee Reynolds combined on a block. A long volley from the Cougars ended the set at 25-23 for a 2-0 match lead for the Lady Trojans.
The Lady Trojans fell behind in the third set 7-5 after a kill from Goodpasture’s Sloan Jenkins, but Northpoint retook the lead at 10-9 when a volley was not returned by the Cougars. An angle kill shot from Val Hurdle gave Northpoint a 15-13 advantage, which became 20-14 with a kill from Reynolds. A Nolan kill made it 21-16 Northpoint and Goodpasture took one more timeout when the Lady Trojans scored the next point.
However, Mackenzie Roach came up with two big kills to finish the victory, including this one as the winner:
Expect the Lady Trojans to take the momentum from Tuesday’s late game and Wednesday’s victory and ride it into the finals.
“This is what we worked for for all four years,” Robinson said.
Quinn Thurman later added, “We’ve been playing a lot, we’ve been working a lot, and I think that working together as a team, we have that drive that was needed today to execute and we did just that.”
Expect that teamwork, from Robinson and Huen on down the roster, to carry the Lady Trojans in Tuesday’s title tilt.
