Our Lady Academy gets revenge, takes down Alcorn Central 3-0 to clinch MHSAA 3A Volleyball Championship

It's the 15th overall title for OLA and first under coach Emily Corley

Author:
Tyler Cleveland, SBLive
Publish date:
Oct 21, 2022 6:15 PM EDT

STARKVILLE — Our Lady Academy came into Friday’s Class 3A Volleyball Championship looking for revenge from last year’s 3-0 state championship loss to Alcorn Central, and it showed.

The Crescents got payback, winning two tight sets before an emphatic 25-16 win in the third and final set to seal the win.

“This is awesome,” OLA coach Emily Corley said. “This was the goal at the beginning of the season, and we got to face the team who beat us last year, so that was cool.”

The championship was the first for Corley and first in three years for OLA, which has now won 15 state volleyball championships.

“I guess that qualifies as a mini drought for us,” Corley said laughing.

The match was uber-competitive in the first two sets.

Alcorn Central (27-5) took a 4-0 lead right out of the gate in the first set before the Crescents (23-10) rallied back to tie it 17-17. It stayed neck-a-neck until OLA won back-to-back points on kills from freshman Myah Favre to win it 25-23.

The second set was just as tight. OLA held a slim 20-19 advantage, but finished the set with a 5-2 run to clinch a 2-0 lead.

The third set was a wash. The Crescents raced ahead 21-5 before Alcorn Central got it together and tried to mount a comeback. They worked it back to 24-16, but OLA got a perfect set from Avery Matheson and Julia Hoffman slammed it home for the final kill.

Annalaura Williford earned MVP honors, finishing with 23 kills.

“We came back in a lot of games against teams that bet us last year and got a win,” Williford said. “This was just the last one.”

The loss was the fifth off the season for Alcorn Central (27-5).

“We’ve got a lot of great players on this team, including five who have been playing for us since the ninth grade,” Alcorn Central coach Eric Lancaster said. “They won a gold ball last year and got back here this year. They’ve had a great career, despite what happened today.”

Photos by Austin Frayser