HOOVER – With one big swing from Peyton Harrington to increase the Spain Park Jaguars' lead to 22-14, it looked like the hosts would cruise to a third-set win and sweep to claim the Class 6A, Area 5 championship.
However, the Thompson Warriors took a few deep breaths, got into position and flipped the switch to end all switches.
Thompson ended the third set on a 12-2 run to extend the match and carried that momentum all the way through all-out battles in the fourth and fifth sets. Ultimately, the Warriors emerged from a hostile Jag Arena with a 15-12 win in the fifth set and a second-straight area title.
While it made for a second nervy win on Thursday, Oct. 15 to advance to super regionals as a No. 1 seed, to Thompson, now winners of 11-straight matches, it was just what the doctor ordered.
"For us, we grew up tonight as a team," Thompson coach Judy Green said. "We really haven't been challenged very hard lately. We haven't been in a fight like that in I can't tell you how long. And when you're not in those matches, you don't learn that much about yourself. It was my biggest concern coming into today was, 'Would we be able to sustain a fight?' And we did."
The Warriors had drama to open the night too in the area semifinal against Oak Mountain. Thompson fought off a fierce effort by the Eagles to win the first set in extras, 26-24. That set up a much more comfortable remainder of the match as the Warriors posted a pair of 25-14 wins for the sweep.
Against Spain Park, Thompson won the first three points of the opening set and used them to pull out for a comfortable lead. A Riley Lingo kill followed by a Maddy Henderson ace made it 9-4 and forced a Spain Park timeout.
The Jags fought back after the stoppage with four-straight points and sent the Warriors into an early timeout with a Kendall Hyde and Lynlee Franks block, cutting the gap to 9-8.
Self-inflicted wounds by Spain Park briefly kept Thompson up 11-10, but the Jags used a 3-0 run to take its first lead of the match. Spain Park took a 16-13 lead before the Warriors tried to regroup.
The Jags kept the momentum going and led by as much as 22-15 going into the final stretch. Thompson's front row came alive for kills by Brielle Merriweather and Ava Roberson, but Spain Park used a hitting error to win the first set 25-19.
The teams split the first 10 points before the Jags went on a 3-0 run capped by a Maggie Cline ace, causing the Warriors to call timeout. The Jags kept that lead the rest of the set and pulled away to a five-point lead at 12-7.
Thompson only got within two points at 17-15 before Spain Park used a 5-1 run to pull away to a 22-16 lead, only briefly stopping for a service error. That was enough to set up a 25-18 Jags win in the second set as Chloe Shumate finished it off with a kill to the back row.
During that time, Green tried to calm her team down to help them play a more relaxed style and remain in the moment.
"We just kept telling our players that they just had to calm down," Green said. "Like, they were so amped up that they weren't able to focus. I think they were trying to think a couple of plays ahead in the rally, and we just weren't making the plays in the moment, and just kept telling them to calm down and take deep breaths, and you have to trust yourself, and you just have to keep your feet where they are at that point in the route. And that was the change."
Spain Park carried the momentum into the third set with a 3-0 run to start the set. The Jags kept the Warriors at bay from there and forced a timeout up 7-4 after a Henderson swing was called out on the line, leading to an uproar from Thompson's side.
The Warriors got close at 12-9, but Spain Park soon pulled away to a 20-12 lead thanks to strong serves. The Jags kept that at 22-14 with a hard-hit kill from Peyton Harrington.
However, Thompson fought back with its back against the wall. The Warriors secured back-to-back blocks and then got consecutive aces from Lingo to force a timeout.
A service error only briefly interrupted the flow before Merriweather and Taylor Wall kills helped tie the set up at 23-23. Spain Park answered with a kill to the back row, but Wall got a kill to force extras. Thompson then got a block and a Jayla Green ace to cap the 12-2 run and win 26-24 to extend the match.
The Warriors carried that momentum into the fourth with a 3-0 run to start. However, the Jags cut into the lead to tie it at 8-8 after a timeout. Thompson briefly got back up 11-8 ahead of a 6-0 Spain Park run to take a 14-11 lead.
The Warriors quickly responded by tying the match up at 15-15 ahead of a back-and-forth stretch. Even so, Thompson still had the momentum thanks to numerous kills from Henderson, Merriweather and Lingo.
The Jags tried to steal the set away by going up 24-23 on a hard kill, putting them on match point. A blocking error sent the teams to extras, and an Armistead ace set up set point to give the Warriors another 26-24 win and a fifth set.
Thompson rode the momentum to an 8-2 run to start the fifth, with a Lingo ace triggering a Spain Park timeout. The Jags started trading points with the Warriors before cutting the gap to 10-7 to force a timeout. The back-and-forth ensued again but only saw Thompson get closer to a match win by maintaining the lead.
A Harrington kill followed by an error cut the gap to 13-11 and forced a Warriors timeout, only for a service error to give the ball back. Thompson did commit a service error of its own on match point, but Merriweather responded with a side-out kill up the middle to seal the 15-12 win and reverse sweep.
After the finals, Green said their biggest challenge from here on out is managing themselves. Having gone through a deep playoff run last year to the finals, she said the key factors to winning in October are mainly internal so they can survive the emotions of elimination matches.
"This is a time of year where everybody's fighting for their season, right?" Green said. "But at some point in time, we tell the team this all the time, it'll come down to discipline and consistency. And for us, we finally became a more disciplined defensive team in this last match."
Thompson will now advance to the North Super Regionals on Wednesday, Oct. 21 at 9 a.m. at Hoover's Finley Center, where the Vestavia Hills Rebels stand in between the Warriors and yet another trip to the state tournament. Seeding matches will follow on Wednesday at 1 p.m. and Thursday, Oct. 22 at 9 a.m. should they win.
