LowcoSports.com
When the circuitous road of the Beaufort Academy volleyball season hit bumps and valleys, veteran coach Jessica Young let her seniors lead and her underclassmen learn, and when it was time to dig deep, the Eagles knew what they needed to do.
BA rallied after losing the first set Monday night to defeat The King’s Academy 3-1 at Wilson Hall in Sumter, capturing the SCISA 2A crown after catching fire in the second half of the season.
It was a bumpy start after sweeping the Lions in two sets at the SCISA state tournament on Friday, but the Eagles found their footing late in the first set and rolled through the next three to lay claim to the title.
“A lot of nerves, jitters. The environment was a little intimidating, but we settled in,” Young said. “The second, third and fourth set, we just dominated. It was the team that I saw last weekend. We just came together. I’ve got a tremendous amount of leadership in my seniors, and I’m just so proud of this group.”
That was the trend of the season, as the Eagles lost four of their first six matches against a challenging early schedule, then went 3-3 against public school competition in a midseason tournament. After a five-set loss at Patrick Henry on Sept. 21, BA sat at 7-8 on the season. But the Eagles reeled off seven straight wins to close out the regular season and stormed through the playoffs.
Young credits her team’s senior leadership — six of the 10 players on the roster are seniors, including region player of the year Claire Tumlin and all-region players Maddie Nelson and Olivia Dinkins — and the team adopted their relentless personality.
“If I’m completely honest, I do most of my job in practice,” Young said. “I’ve got some leadership that I’ve found with this group, often times if I get out of the way, they tend to change the trajectory of the game and use the things that they’ve learned through the past few years and pull it together. I can’t say enough about my senior leadership. It really just solidifies what this season was all about.”
Hear more from BA coach Jessica Young by watching the replay of Monday’s edition of the LowcoSports Lowdown and see a cameo from the champs during their celebratory postgame dinner. All episodes are available on-demand on the Lowco Media YouTube channel.
