Oct. 23—HOOVER — Austin, West Morgan and Athens Bible punched their ticket to the state volleyball tournament on Thursday.
Out of six local teams that competed on the second day of the North Super Regional in Hoover, three will make the trip to Birmingham next week for the state tournament.
"It feels like all this work has actually paid off," Austin's Maggie Jae Marsh said.
With the new subregional format in this year's playoffs, teams had to win only one game in order make it to state.
Austin beat Homewood 3-1 (20-25, 25-21, 25-14, 25-20) and then took a 3-0 (25-15, 25-20, 25-10) loss to Jasper in the Class 5A semifinal.
The loss brings an end to the Black Bears' (39-4) 22 game win streak that goes back to September.
"We told them, it's not really about today," Austin head coach April Marsh said. "It's how we respond and what we do moving forward. It's about learning from it."
Austin will play Friday at 11 a.m. against Southside to determine the third and fourth seeds from the North.
This is the Black Bears' second consecutive state tournament appearance. Last season they made it to the Class 7A semifinals.
In both games for Austin, Maggie Jae Marsh picked up 45 assists, 12 kills, 21 digs and four aces. Austin's Kassidy Cunningham added 15 kills. Addison Garth picked 14 kills and two blocks for the Black Bears.
In Class 4A, West Morgan (40-12) rolled through Shades Valley (25-18, 25-11, 25-6) in the Rebels' first game of the day and punched consecutive tickets to the state tournament.
"Right now, everyone feels that no one can stop us," West Morgan's Haniyah Standridge said. "I just feel so good, it's such a pure feeling."
In order to get here, West Morgan swept defending state champions Cherokee County in the subregional round. Those wins marked nine straight sets won.
"The word that we say every day is 'together,'" West Morgan coach Kristen Parrish said. "We work together, we stay together and because we're not individualized. That's what makes us great."
The Rebels will play Moody at 9 a.m. on Friday in the semifinals. If they win, they'll move onto the Class 4A North Super Regional final, where a win means top seed from the North going into state.
"That's the goal," Standridge said. "I believe we're going to the top of that hill. We're going into the state tournament strong."
In Class A, the new private school classification, Athens Bible took down Decatur Heritage in a sweep that earned a state tournament berth.
The Trojans then lost to Faith Christian 3-1 in the semifinal but beat Donoho 3-1 in the third-place round. That win earned the third seed from the North.
Class 5A's East Limestone (28-8) saw its season end with a 3-0 loss to Mountain Brook. Class 4A's Lawrence County (32-20) was down 2-0 but came back to force a fifth set and lost 3-2, ending the Red Devils' season.