Christian Academy sets sights on claiming SCISA volleyball gold

Walking into practice Monday, Randy Haldi didn’t know exactly what he wanted to tell his team.

But the Christian Academy of Myrtle Beach volleyball coach knew how he didn’t want his squad to feel.

“I didn’t want them to feel any pressure,” he said. “We wound up talking about not putting too much weight into a game. You’ve made it thus far for a reason, and that is an incredible achievement.”

Win or lose Tuesday night, this season is one the Saints will remember for years to come. Don’t get it twisted, though, a consolation prize is not what they have in mind.

Christian Academy will take on top-ranked Spartanburg Christian for the SCISA Class 2A title Tuesday night at Cardinal Newman School. First serve is at 6:30 p.m.

The Saints survived the gauntlet of six matches — three of which their season was on the line — against elite competition at last weekend’s state tournament, held at the Myrtle Beach Sports Center. While Haldi already knew his team was chock full of grit, it was what occurred in its semifinal match with Thomas Sumter Academy that he realized the depth to which it will dig to win.

“You lose a tough first set by a score of 29-27, it is easy to get down in the dumps and let it affect how you play the next game,” he said. “Add on top of that, none of the breaks go your way, balls taking funny bounces, balls freakishly hitting the net and falling for points. That’s what we were up against, and it allowed Thomas Sumter to take an 18-11 lead.

“It would have been easy to mail it in there, say it was a good season and we made it pretty far. But these girls wanted more.”

The Saints rallied from that deficit to claim the second game, 25-23, using that momentum to propel them to a 25-15 victory in the third and decisive frame to claim a berth in the state title match.

Certainly eager for its shot to make history, Christian Academy knows what it faces in the final. Having faced Spartanburg Christian in last weekend’s state tournament.

“They’re much, much bigger than is,” Haldi said. “We already know going in we’ll be the underdog. They have girls on the team that are 6-foot-2, 6-foot-3, and are dominating players. Look at it this way, they have girls a foot taller than most of our team.”

Nevertheless, the team’s approach remains the same. “We’re going to scramble and do what we do, the game plan has not changed at all.”

And hopefully for Haldi, it delivers a state championship.

This story was originally published October 24, 2016 at 11:23 PM with the headline "Christian Academy sets sights on claiming SCISA volleyball gold."