After winning the ACAC tournament title in September at Heritage, many on the local volleyball scene refused to respect the Adams Central Flying Jets. When South Adams got revenge in the rematch, those same fans continued to profess the Starfires as eventual sectional champions.
Coach Tami Henry’s team never listened to any of it.
After dropping the first two sets Saturday morning to Manchester, the critics seemed to be in the know, but the Jets proved everyone wrong and claimed their first sectional title since 2014, coming back to beat Manchester in five sets and then winning the rubber match against rival South Adams in four sets, 21-25, 25-20, 25-19, 25-20.
The resilience shown by this team highlighted an incredible weekend for the school in athletics and gives the Jets plenty of momentum to progress further in the tournament than just next Saturday morning at Elwood.
The Jets will now have a week to prepare for Lafayette Central Catholic. The two will meet at 10 a.m. Saturday for a spot in the regional finals at Elwood. The morning match will be webcast on WZBD’s YouTube Channel.
The Starfires reached the championship match by eliminating Bluffton in straight sets in the afternoon, 25-8, 25-12, 25-17. Macy Pries led the team in the semifinal with 14 kills, while Shea Alberson had 13 digs and seven aces.
The loss for South Adams marked the end of the sterling volleyball career of Macy Pries, who achieved milestones of 1000 digs and 1000 kills this year for the Starfires.
Things looked awfully bleak for the Jets after they dropped the first two sets against Manchester, but the team never conceded defeat and played exceptionally well in the decisive fifth set.
Note: No stats were provided by Adams Central.