Bishops win ninth straight championship

LEXINGTON — The Bishop England volleyball dynasty continues to grow.

The Bishops won their ninth straight Class AA state championship Saturday with a 25-14, 25-20, 25-14 victory over Gilbert.

It was a state-best 19th title overall for the Bishops, who finished with a 22-6 record with the victory at White Knoll High School.

"We talked about what we needed to do today," Bishop England coach Cindy Baggott said. "We don't harp on what happened in the past. We just wanted to go out and play our style of volleyball. We didn't want them to dictate play."

Gilbert entered the match with a 20-0 record, but came up short in the biggest match of the year. The Indians still had hopes of a miracle, taking a 7-2 lead in the third game. But the Bishops rebounded to sweep the match.

"You can't base our season on one match," Gilbert coach Jackie Shealy said. "We were 20-0 and were so scrappy. The girls played hard, they played with a lot of heart. We deserved to be here."

Shealy said her team was motivated by some newspaper articles that referred to Bishop England as the crown jewel of state volleyball.

"We knew coming in that it would be a tough match," Shealy said. "We talked about the story of David and Goliath. We played the giant. We played well. They just played a little better."

Shealy said she wouldn't mind a rematch next year because her team loses only two seniors to graduation.

Bishop England loses only one senior: Lauren Zerbst. She spent the first few minutes after the match clutching the state championship trophy.

"Winning it today hasn't set in yet," Zerbst said. "It's kind of overwhelming to realize that we have won nine straight state championships. To be a part of that is awesome and overwhelming. Not too many people have the opportunity to play in a state championship.

"We were a little nervous coming in. We knew we had to fight for it. We knew they were a very good team. We knew we had to play like we've never played before."

The Bishops had more talent. They also had the intangibles.

"I don't think they expected us to be as scrappy as they were," Baggott said. "We had a couple more hitters, and in the end, that helped put it away."