By Rubin E. Grant
The Mountain Brook volleyball team entered the 2021 season with a chip on its shoulder, and it remained the entire season.
The Spartans were not the preseason No. 1 ranked Class 6A team despite coming off two consecutive state championship seasons. They won the Class 7A crown in 2019 and captured the 2020 Class 6A title after dropping down a classification.
The slight rankled them.
“In the back of my mind and I think other people’s minds, we were supposed to be No. 1 during the year,” senior outside hitter Lucy Redden said. “But we just couldn’t talk it. We were going to have to prove it. It didn’t matter where you were at the beginning of the season, but I think we had to prove we were going to be the team we’re used to being.”
Mountain Brook proved it all right.
The No. 2-ranked Spartans (43-12) swept the No. 4 St. Paul’s Episcopal Saints 25-17, 27-25, 25-19 in the championship match last week at Bill Harris Arena in Birmingham to claim their third consecutive state title and second straight Class 6A crown in the AHSAA 51st State Volleyball Championships.
Mountain Brook now has won six state titles, all since 2014, but it was the first for first-year head coach Mattie Gardner, who had been an assistant during the 2019 and 2020 title runs.
“It’s so exciting,” Gardner said. “It’s very little of my effort and it is a lot of these girls and our school, our students, administration and staff. I am surrounded by incredible people who support me.”
Senior outside hitter Greer Golden led the Spartans against St. Paul’s (45-10), recording a match-high 13 kills and finishing her career with more than 1,000 kills. She was named the MVP.
“I was really happy to be named that,” Golden said. “I’ve had four really good years on this team. Ever since I was a freshman, I’ve loved these girls and I’ve fallen in love with the sport, and this was just a great ending for me.”
While Golden was named MVP, the Spartans had contributions up and down its roster. Redden had seven kills and three digs and sophomore setter Hannah Parant added 27 assists. Redden and Parant joined Golden on the all-tournament team.
“This team is unique because every person contributes,” Gardner said. “We used the phrase, ‘We’re not a team of heroes,’ all year. We don’t need one or two heroes to come out of the blue and play out of their minds. We just need all 15 girls to play solidly, and if we do that, we’re just fine.”
The Spartans reached the finals by sweeping St. James 25-19, 25-3, 25-9 in the quarterfinals behind 14 kills from Redden, 10 kills from Golden, 32 assists from Parant and 13 digs from senior libero Alexandra Carlson.
The Battle Against Homewood
Then, Mountain Brook rallied from a 2-1 deficit to beat area rival Homewood 3-2 in the semifinals, 25-16, 17-25, 18-25, 25-21,15-7. Golden had 12 kills, four blocks and two digs and Parant had 50 assists and 14 digs. Sophomore middle hitter Alice Garzon added nine kills and four blocks and Carlson added 22 digs, two assists and three aces.
“We just had to have the mindset we were going to win instead of being scared,” Parant said. “They probably played us the best they had played us. All five games were really hard. We fought as hard as we have all season.”
Third-ranked Homewood (31-15), coached by Andie Freedman, got 30 kills, 11 digs and three blocks from senior outside hitter Olivia Brown. Senior outside hitter Lily Janas had 11 kills, three digs and two blocks, and senior setter Olivia Outman added 40 assists and nine digs.
The Patriots had swept Northridge 25-7, 25-22, 25-22 in the quarterfinals behind Brown’s 16 kills and 15 digs. Mackenzie Yoakum added 10 kills, 12 digs and four blocks, Haley Callahan totaled 18 digs and Outman had 26 assists, 13 digs and two kills. But Homewood couldn’t overcome Mountain Brook.
“At the end of the day, Mountain Brook’s a very good team,” Freedman said. “Today was different for us, because we came out and competed to the level that we could compete and made it a real competitive match.”
The Spartans’ victory was their fourth this season against Homewood, which was the preseason No. 1 in Class 6A, but Mountain Brook still had more work to do to secure the title against St. Paul’s, which defeated No. 5 Saraland 25-21, 18-25, 25-22, 25-15 in the other semifinal. The Saints eliminated No. 1 Spanish Fort in the South Super Regional.
Then Came St Paul’s
“We just had to refocus,” Redden said. “Last (Tuesday against Homewood) was a tough one, but we knew coming in (Wednesday) was a clean slate. We’ve been here before and we had to have that mindset that we wanted to win this again so badly.
“We were, like, there’s nothing that’s going to stop us. We didn’t care if it was five sets or three sets; we were just winning, and it didn’t matter to us how we were going to get there. We were going to win and do whatever it takes. We had that attitude that nothing could stop us.”
The Spartans dominated the first set against St. Paul’s, jumping to a 15-5 lead and forcing Saints coach Lisa Marston to call two timeouts. The Saints closed the gap to 19-16 before the Spartans put it away 25-17.
The second set was a back-and-forth affair. St. Paul’s held a 23-21 lead, but Mountain Brook rallied to win the set 27-25.
“We came out with such adrenaline,” Parant said. “We were like floating. We kind of slowed down (in the second set), but we got together and said we cannot let up at all. We got back into that mindset of winning every point. We were determined not to let a ball touch the ground.”
Mountain Brook started fast in the third set, taking a 7-1 lead and extending it to 20-8. The Saints regrouped and pulled within 21-18, but a serve into the net stopped their momentum. The Spartans closed it out when St. Paul’s couldn’t return Parant’s serve.
“We played teams in 6A all year and in the back of my head was this thought that we are supposed to be No. 1,” Golden said. “We were meant to be in the championship no matter where we were ranked. That fueled us.”
