The Lady Cavs took home their first district title in their brief history with a sweep of the Evangel Lady Eagles 25-16, 25-5, 25-14 on Tuesday night on their final home regular-season game. Calvary continues their undefeated record to 16-0.
Coach Jon Casey is getting his squad ready for the upcoming three monster matches to end the season and then get them gunning for the playoffs. “Our ladies played really good tonight,” Casey said. “We tried specifically to open up our middles and hit more. We tried to pull some of the girls back intentionally to get some other girls some opportunities for the last three biggest games of the year plus playoffs. We wanted to make sure that everybody is getting a chance to swing hard and get their reps in. It feels really good to be district champs. First time ever in Calvary Baptist volleyball history. Very proud of the girls. This is a super special team that we have this year. They love each other. They show grace and mercy.”
Kiya Casey collected 9 kills and 9 assists along with 5 aces and 8 digs. Senior Audrey Baldwin allowed the Cavs to score with 13 assists and scored on 4 aces and 5 kills and 2 digs. Avery Covington serving brought in 5 aces and scored on 3 other kills. Alex Parker held the front line down with a towering 5 kills, 1 block, and an ace. Taylor Darner went on a scoring rampage in the second set with 4 aces in one serving set and 3 kills and an assist.
For Baldwin one of the final members of the original Calvary volleyball squad left from five years ago, this was a big step. “First game I ever played we couldn’t even get the ball over the net,” Baldwin said. “Now we’re slamming it now. It’s just coming up from there. This feels amazing. This is my last year and feels good to go out like this.”
Parker and Darner had face a formidable opponent in Aaronyana Wilson on the net who rose above the net to slam down on the Lady Cavs multiple times. The Calvary duo withstood the blasts. “It’s exciting to do good,” Parker said. “I love when we get together as a team and make things happen.”
Kiya Casey has a few more games at Calvary but has enjoyed watching this team grow into the district champs that they are. “It was awesome tonight,” Casey said. “This team has been growing so much together. I never thought this would happen, but I believe our team could do it.”
In the first set, Calvary found that they would have to get out of the hole early as Evangel jumped out to an early 8-4 lead. Calvary eventually caught the Lady Eagles at 9-9. Casey’s second chance to serve brought 2 aces and an assist to punch over by Darner to widen the lead to 14-10. Covington’s second serving set brought 4 aces and expanded the lead to 19-11. Calvary hung on for the 25-16 first game win.
Calvary went on a 14-point run in the second set led by 4 aces by Darner. Parker kept the ball alive on the front as she picked up 3 kills and a block during the run. Baldwin added 4 kills during the run also. The Lady Cavs closed out the second set with another 7 point run fueled by 2 aces from Baldwin and 2 kills from Casey.
Calvary jumped out early once again, but an onslaught of defense and slams from Evangel’s Wilson brought the Lady Eagles back to even and a small 7-6 lead. Calvary would come back and take a 3-point lead at 10-7, but Wilson would storm the Eagles and chop the lead. An assist by Casey to Brynn Lovitt would start a Lady Cavs rally. Baldwin served up a number of aces, assist, and kills to allow the Lady Cavs to be within the grasp of the district title at 19-8. Evangel went on a 5-1 run to close in the gap. Casey brought the district title home with three straight aces.
The Calvary Lady Cavaliers held the No. 1 slot in Division V for four consecutive weeks and dropped to No. 2 in this week’s current rankings behind Metairie Country Day. The win totals of opponents pushed them over the Lady Cavs. The Lady Cavs will try to regain that No. 1 slot and maintain their undefeated status. Their final three away games will be against teams that are all Division I opponents and a combined record of 33-11. Thursday they will travel across the river to Airline to take on the Lady Viking. Monday they will take a trip down I-49 to face the Division I No. 8 Natchitoches-Central Lady Chiefs. They will close out the regular season on a trip to West Monroe next Thursday. A tall order for the Lady Cavs, but it’s been a historic season for them, and who stands in their way to continue to rewrite the history book.
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