The King's Academy claims SCISA AA volleyball state championship
After 3 runner-up finishes, TKA wins title, denying Laurens Academy a 4th straight crown
By Dennis Brunson
hssr.com Associate Editor
Columbia – It was the fourth time – not the third – that was the charm for The King’s Academy volleyball team.
Having finished as state runner-up for three consecutive years, the Lions finally got to hoist the SCISA AA state championship trophy, beating defending state champion Laurens Academy 3-2 on Monday at the Cardinal Newman High School gymnasium. TKA won by the scores of 25-21, 25-21, 20-25, 22-25, 15-9.
“It's a relief,” was the response of The King’s Academy head coach Kyle Buckley when asked what it means to win the program’s first state title. “This team has worked so hard since June to figure out what roles served us best as a team. Once we found the right rotation everybody jum0ed on board and tried to improve throughout season.”
“It’s a really huge accomplishment.” Said senior Kate Buckley, the head coach’s daughter. “The past three years losing in the championship took a toll on the players.”
“It meant so much to me and Kate as well,” said Lauren Mills, the team’s other senior along with Buckley. “We’ve been together so long. We felt like our job was finally done.”
The Lions were swept 3-0 in last year’s championship match by the Crusaders, who were looking for their fourth consecutive state title. It looked as though TKA might return the favor as it won the first two sets. However, LA had other ideas.
Laurens, which won Class A title in 2022 and ’23 before moving up to AA last year and winning there as well, fought back to tie the match.
“They really fought really hard,” said Crusaders head coach Shannon McGee, whose team finished with a 27-6 record. “We put everything we had on the court, and we just came up short. Those first two sets were really close. The score was tied most all the way before they won. The next two sets we were leading by five to seven points most of the way.”
Despite knowing the possibility of finally winning a state title might be slipping away, The King’s Academy kept its poise.
“I told them we had to tighten up our serve/receive, make good passes and have solid hits,” said Coach Buckley, whose team finished with a 25-6 record. “When we had good passes, they could not stop us. We needed to get the lead and don't let them get back.
“They just had to keep believing in themselves, continue to play our game and do the things we do well.”
“For some reason I was really calm, which is not like me at all,” Mills said. “My teammates said they were looking at me and I just had a sense of peace. We had already beat them two times before and we just made dumb mistakes in the third and fourth sets. We just had to clean up our play.”
LA jumped out to a 5-3 lead in the 15-point fifth set. However, the Lions responded by scoring six of the next seven points to go up 9-6. Laurens called a timeout to try and quell TKA’s momentum, but it was to no avail.
“We felt like we had the momentum going into the fifth set,” McGee said. “The other team really brought its A game after that. They have a really tall middle hitter who is really good. We just didn’t have enough time to catch back up, not enough time to save ourselves.”
That middle hitter is Kate Buckley, who didn’t play her junior year because of a torn anterior cruciate ligament. She finished with 26 kills, 10 ½ blocked shots, nine digs and four service aces. She said she and her teammates had to regain their focus.
“When it came to the final set, everybody had some nerves, but we just decided we had to play our best until we got to that 15th point,” said Buckley, who is 6 feet tall. “There definitely were thoughts about the match getting away. They found their groove after the second set. We just knew we had to block those thoughts out and stay ahead.”
Junior Emma Taflinger had a strong performance with 42 assists, three aces and two blocks. Mills had three kills, six digs, two aces and four blocks, junior Ava Grace Keefe had 14 kills, 14 digs and one block, sophomore Clara Lowe had eight kills, two digs and 3 ½ blocks, and junior Ella Creel had four digs and five aces.
Other members of The King’s Academy are junior Gabby Cox, junior Lillian Reeves and sophomore Addi Bescher.
Leading the way for Laurens was senior Campbell Sherman, who had 25 kills and 17 digs. Senior Madisyn Graham had two aces, two kills, seven digs and three blocks, sophomore Mckenzie Runyans had five aces, 11 kills and nine digs, junior Mary McCameron had four aces and 27 digs, junior Addison Mitchum had eight kills, 26 assists and 15 digs, eighth-grader Braylee Burke had 15 assists, 10 digs, one ace and one kill, junior Makayla Lindley had two kills, two digs and two blocks and sophomore Sadie Bruyere had two digs.
“I told them I was extremely proud of them and they needed to hold their heads high,” McGee said. “I couldn’t say they didn’t battle. They played to the best of their ability, they just came up short. They left everything everything they had on the court. There was a lot of pressure going after that fourth championship.”
Coach Buckley said winning state was not just for her and her players, it was for the entire school.
“We’ve had nothing but great support from The King’s Academy,” said Coach Buckley, who has been the head coach for six yers. “Everyone was truly excited, saying, ‘Y’all deserve thisbecause you’ve been working so hard the last four years.’ “
