History lessons: LA claims 3rd straight volleyball title
Sarah Garaghty (7) goes up for a kill during the second set of Laurens Academy’s 3-0 state championship win over The King’s Academy Monday night.
COLUMBIA – Different division, same result.
Laurens Academy won its third straight volleyball championship Monday night, dominating The King’s Academy much the same way the Crusaders rolled through the regular season.
LA claimed the SCISA Class 2A state title with a 3-0 (25-10, 25-16, 25-19) at Cardinal Newman School.
“This one just feels different because we just made history for Laurens Academy girls sports,” said LA head coach Shannon McGee, whose squad became the first girls team at the school to “three-peat” in any sport. “This is something that’s going to be up there forever. We made history.”
The Crusaders (28-3) received the usual contributions from Region Player of the Year Campbell Sherman, but she was hardly alone on the court or on the stat sheet.
Sarah Garaghty scored point after point in the third set as the Lions (10-10) tried desperately to stay alive. LA ran its offense through Garaghty and Sherman most of the night.
LA led 16-15 in the final set but outscored the Lions 9-4 the rest of the way to clinch the championship.
An errant serve by King’s ended the match.
Garaghty said she seems to play her best in pressure situations, and the finals were no different.
“I love the intensity,” she said. “I love the challenge.”
Senior libero Olivia Suttles said she did not want to walk off the volleyball court for the last time as a Crusader without a third championship trophy.
“It feels really good to finish my career with three (championships),” she said. “I never thought we’d be able to do that but we made school history.”
LA swept through the state tournament without dropping a set, beating Lee Academy, Cathedral and Holy Trinity on the way to the finals against the Lions.
“I’m really thankful that God gave us the opportunity to do this,” Sherman said. “I really thought we could. We worked hard for it, and I think we earned it. I’m just really grateful for it.”
I’m really thankful that God gave us the opportunity to do it. Um, I really think that we can, I think we work hard for, I think we earned it, I think, um, I’m just really grateful for it.
The Crusaders last lost a match on Sept. 9 to charter school Mountain View Prep. They played a rare close match this past week, beating Cambridge Academy 3-2 in a tune-up for the state tournaments for both teams.
LA defeated Cambridge in the SCISA Class 1A state finals in each of the past two seasons.
This year, the Crusaders claimed the 2A title, while Cambridge broke through to win the Class 1A championship with a 3-0 win over Wardlaw.
LA will lose Suttles and two other seniors – Cadie Wilson and Maggie Collins – off of this year’s squad, but will return top hitters Sherman and Geraghty, who said they have making more history in mind.
Four in a row?
“Yes sir, that’s it,” Sherman said.
