David Leung
Briarwood Volleyball celebrates
The Briarwood bench reacts during a Class 5A volleyball state championship semifinal match between Briarwood and Guntersville on Oct. 28 at the Birmingham Crossplex.
It has been evident since the day Chris Camper took over as Briarwood Christian School volleyball coach nearly two years ago that the Lions would become a significant and consistent contender for state titles.
The Lions took one step closer to that Oct. 28, reaching the Class 5A semifinals at the Birmingham CrossPlex.
A year after reaching the second round of regionals, the Lions broke through to the state tournament this year. Briarwood took the court in the opening round of the tournament and blew past Arab 3-0.
David Leung
Spain Park Volleyball
Spain Park teammates celebrate a successful point during a Class 6A volleyball state championship semifinal match.
Briarwood took the court again a few hours later in the semifinals, and fell in a five-set thriller to Guntersville, which went on to win the 5A title. Guntersville took the first set, before the Lions rallied to win the next two. Guntersville took the fourth and fifth sets to claim the match.
“Gosh, what a relentless game that was,” Camper said. “I haven’t been in 5A very long, but that’s pretty high level volleyball for this level. I don’t think a single kid that played in that match had a bad match. Everybody played great, and [the other teams] played great. It was just back and forth. And I don’t know what could have been different. Our rotation was good. They just made more points.”
For a Briarwood team that has just two seniors and plenty of underclassmen, each player making her first appearance at the state tournament, the Lions handled the environment with no issues.
“I was impressed, shocked, really,” Camper said. “They played with energy. They played with composure and a lot of poise in big points.”
Camper singled out Julie Roberts as having an exceptional performance, as the junior and University of South Alabama commit is set to become a senior leader next fall for a team that will have high hopes once again. Seniors Saylor Eighmy and Clara Crawford were steady leaders for the Lions in Camper’s second season.
“It really opens up for this team for the next couple years,” Camper said. “They’re young and hungry, and they love each other.
“We made a little noise in 5A this year and in the final four in year two, what I thought would probably be three or four years into the program before we could get to something like this. Expectations are high, and we were No. 1 and 2 most of the year with [Guntersville], and it went exactly like it should have gone. They just made more plays. And so next year, come right back, we’ve got to demand that we be here.”
Jags proud of 2025 season
The Spain Park High School volleyball team will take great pride in the 2025 team’s accomplishments.
A senior group of Bea Wiggins, Ja’Niyah Mosley and Cailyn Kyes wanted nothing more than to erase the despair of last season, as a team accustomed to winning big was ousted in the area tournament.
This year, they were joined by fellow senior and transfer Mary Payton Dees, and achieved that and more. The Jags rolled all the way to the Class 6A semifinals Oct. 28 at the Birmingham CrossPlex.
Spain Park earned a win in the opening round of the state tournament Tuesday with a 3-1 win over Hartselle. The Jags dominated the first two sets before Hartselle grabbed the third and Spain Park finished the match off in the fourth.
“I said, ‘If I told you last October, after we got beat by Chelsea, that we would be 38-9 and in the final four, y’all wouldn't have believed me,’” Spain Park head coach Justin Kisor said.
Hazel Green proved too much in the semifinals, winning 3-0 to advance to the championship match.
“I'm obviously disappointed that we didn’t get the job done, but I’m not disappointed in our girls,” Kisor said. “I’m proud of our girls. We fought. Hats off to Hazel Green, they did a great job. We knew they were going to do that and be scrappy and be gritty. And we just didn’t have much left in the tank.”
Kisor has now completed his second season at Spain Park, and balances admiration for his outgoing seniors and appreciation for what they accomplished, along with knowing the future is bright as well. Kisor praised underclassmen like Peyton Harrington, Chloe Shumate, Camdyn Kyes, Aya Sudarsana and others for stepping up in the biggest moments of their careers.
“In a couple of days, I’ll sit there and think, wow, that was a heck of a ride. But right now, I hurt for our seniors. I hurt for them, and I would have done anything for there to be a different outcome. But we did all we could do, and they fought,” he said.
