By Scott Nickerson
Elmore Autauga News
The Prattville Christian Academy Panthers won all four of their matches in the Class 4A South Regional on Wednesday and Thursday, to claim the school’s first ever Regional Championship. The Panthers will advance to the Class 4A state tournament in Birmingham in hopes to bring home the Class 4A title.
On the first day of competition, the Panthers swept Opp (25-9, 25-13, and 25-5) and Indian Springs (25-10, 25-10, 25-14) to earn a spot in the Class 4A State Tournament. During Wednesday’s play against Indian Springs, PCA’s Natalee Wheeler recorded her 1,000 varsity career dig.
On Thursday, the top ranked Panthers defeated St. Michael’s in 3 sets (25-19, 25-18, 25-12) to advance to the Super Region Championship. The championship win against Orange Beach went five sets (20-25, 25-22, 22-25, 25-21, 15-9).
“I am so proud of our girls for their fight today!” said PCA Volleyball Head Coach Kaylon Cantrell. “Orange Beach played an amazing game and really put us to the test. But we needed to face that adversity before heading to state next week. It could’ve been easy for our girls to get down and defeated during several moments of the game, but they worked together and found a way to fight through and overcome it, and I couldn’t be more proud.”
With the win, the Panthers record improves to 42-14 on the season. Each player’s statistics were provided by PCA.
Baylee Rogers had 86 assists, 6 aces, and 17 digs.
Emma Cate Carter had 50 kills, 2 aces, and 33 digs.
Leah Cate Wilson had 28 kills, 1 block, and 1 dig.
Maren Diefenderfer had 23 kills, 3 blocks, and 1 dig.
Jenna McClendon had 8 kills, 4 digs, and 5 blocks.
Paysley Bayer had 4 kills and 13 digs.
Morgan Fowler had 8 aces and 14 digs.
Natalee Wheeler had 1 assist, 2 aces, and 29 digs.
Brylee Byrd had 1 assist, 1 ace, and 9 digs.
Aiden Williams had 1 ace and 13 digs.
Olivia Rossi had 1 block and 3 digs.
PCA will be one of eight teams in Class 4A that advance to the State Tournament next week in Birmingham. “All four of the north state qualifier teams are strong,” said Coach Cantrell, “so we know we have our work cut out for us even coming in as a 1 seed. But we are excited to put in the work and make the most of the opportunities ahead of us!”
