On Monday, the Chambers Academy varsity volleyball team fell to eventual back-to-back state champion Southern Academy in the AISA 2A Final Four in Montgomery.

The Lady Rebels battled it out in the Elite Eight round earlier that day, rallying past Clarke Prep 3-2 to advance to the Final Four for the first time in several years. Clarke Prep won the first two sets 25-18 and 25-19, but the Rebels came bouncing back to take wins in the last three sets with scores of 25-20, 25-18 and 15-11.

“We were thrilled that the girls were thrilled that we fought back from being down 2-0 to Clarke Prep to beating them in five sets,” Chambers’ first-year head coach David Howard said.

The Lady Rebels also put up a fight against Southern Academy but found themselves unmatched against the formidable foe of the Final Four. Chambers Academy was knocked out, falling in all three sets (25-18, 25-14 and 25-7).

“We had a game plan for Southern to play as aggressive as we could, and we knew we were kind of outgunned. We knew that they had some powerful hitters that we were going to have to work against, but we decided that we were going to go on the offense rather than the defense, and we really fought well with them for the beginning of each set, and it just kind of overpowered us,” Howard said.

While they wished they could make it to the state championship game, Howard says this season was more about celebrating their mentality to not give up and to fight all season long. That mentality helped them shine throughout the season, with only five losses in the regular season and the first playoff loss this year coming to the (still) reigning state champion.

“What we were finishing the season on was that the memories we made didn't depend so much on what the score on the scoreboard said, but it was whether we gave our best, whether we played our best, whether we enjoyed being out there with our teammates,” Howard said. “That atmosphere was more important than what the final score on the scoreboard said.”

“We're real proud of what we did. The girls hadn't been to the Final Four in several years, and we’re hoping to have the program turning around here, going in a direction to build,” Howard added. “I think that our mentality has grown all throughout the year, our attitudes of being able to stay up, play through adversity, and wanting to win. I think we struggled with really wanting to win, and I think that the girls, once you get a taste of it and I think they got a pretty good taste of it, they started going, and I think it's going to give fuel to work harder in the offseason to get ready for next year.”

The season was also marked by improving on defense and a move into more powerful positions on offense, which will help them be more balanced offensively and defensively next season.

One of the big moves was transitioning lone senior Cate Allen from a setter role to a middle attacker role. At middle attacker, she came out swinging and consistently led the stat sheets for the Lady Rebels, racking up many kills and hits on the season. She quickly became a force at the net. For her efforts leading the team this year, she received AISA All-Tournament honors and has been selected to play in the AISA All-Star game among the best volleyball players in the state. She will play for the AISA Red Team this Saturday, Oct. 24, at the Cramton Bowl.

“She started off as our setter and kind of our primary setter, and then kind of had to make an adjustment, which wasn't necessarily what she wanted to do but it was what needed to be done for the team. So, it was a little bit of a challenge for her to make that adjustment, but for her to sacrifice what she wanted to do to be the most valuable player for our team and do what our team needed, that's the sign of a true leader and a true team player, and that's what she is,” Howard said. “She always brings great attitude. She's positive. She's grown up around sports her whole life. She knows what being a teammate is about. So, those are all strong suits for Cate, and I think that's why she was selected for All-Stars because she has the mentality for it. She'll be able to go onto any team and play with any girls and do what they ask her to do and do it well.”

“Our goal was to play aggressive and I think she really hit the ball well [at state],” Howard added. “She really got some good blocks, played well at the net. She had some great serves especially in the last match, had some really great serves, got several aces. She's got a great memory for her last game going out as a senior.”

On Saturday in Selma, the JV Lady Rebels also fell to eventual state champion Southern Academy in the Final Four. Earlier that day, Chambers defeated Bessemer in the Elite 2-1. The JV squad fell to Bessemer 25-22 and rallied back to defeat Bessemer 28-28 and 15-12. Just like their varsity counterparts, the JV Lady Rebels fought to the end but were swept by Southern. Southern’s JV squad won 3-0 (25-18, 25-14 and 25-7) to move onto the state championship game.

“Southern's got a great volleyball program going. They've got a great coach. We got some work to do to get [to the championship game], but that's what everybody wants. Everybody wants to be the champs. Bessemer had a really good team, too. We had some film on them from earlier in the season. We had watched [them] and maybe had underestimated them, but they came in and they played really, really well. We were missing one of our regular outside hitters in that [round], so we had to make some adjustments for that,” Howard said. “I really think that if we had been able to have our whole starting lineup, we would have had a pretty good chance of winning the whole thing, but the JV season was strong.”

Howard also highlighted the JV Lady Rebels’ equally tough mentality to fight to the end just like their varsity counterparts. Much like varsity, they had performed well against their foes this year, only dropping three games during the regular season.

“They’ve gotten tougher and tougher and tougher, and they just didn't quit. I think every set that we won, we were behind and we had to fight back,” Howard said.

“We're excited that both our JV and our varsity, we got knocked out in the Final Four by state champs. So, that makes us feel pretty good about where we stood.”

Howard thanks Rebel Nation for their support this season.

“All season the support was phenomenal,” Howard said. “Our football team and other school classmates came and supported us, especially at home games. We had a rowdy cheering section, and that's one of the things that our girls feed off of is that when they get somebody cheering for them, they want to put on a show.”

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