ORCA Lady Warriors are Super Regional Champions
ORCA Lady Warriors Regional Champions. PHOTO | Greg Moore
By Greg Moore
Banner Sports Editor
On a day that was perfect for anything outside, it took the Oak Ridge Christian Academy Lady Warriors a little bit to get going indoors at the Super Regional Volleyball Tournament in McDaniels, KY at the Bethel Christian Academy. Coming in as the three-seed in the loaded first and second regions, Oak Ridge knew it was going to take precision in their playing to come out on top.
The Holy Angels was the opening round, noon matchup that faced ORCA. Early in the season, the lower-seeded Angels were capable of winning a set and forcing the Lady Warriors to win in three sets. And the guests on the scoreboard went on some impressive runs to match Oak Ridge in the opening set. Fortunately, freshman Emma Whitaker’s final two serves helped to get the opening set nail-bitter, 26-24.
Before a timeout to regroup, the Lady Warriors were facing another deficit in the second set, 17-13. Another freshman, Emmie McIntosh, served to tie the game up before Shay Oaks took control serving them into a 22-18 advantage before settling into the 25-21 clinching win over the Angels.
Seniors Shay Oaks (L) and Sierra Marshall (R) All Tournament and MVP Zoey Cardwell. PHOTO | Greg Moore
The opening win over Holy Angels set up a semifinal with the number one seed, North Hardin, whose only loss on the year was to Oak Ridge. Once again, the Lady Warriors had the Falcons number, winning impressively, 25-17 and 25-20.
In the title game, ORCA stayed hot and took down a resilient Northside Royals team in the first set, 25-22, only to get that flipped in the second set, falling 23-25 to the Royals. However, MVP of the tournament, Zoey Cardwell, was too much in the finale, in which the Lady Warriors claimed the 25-14, convincing win.
The Super Regional Championship will give Oak Ridge the number one seed going into the State Tournament this weekend at West Jessamine High School. The Lady Warriors know what this feels like; last year they won the Region but fell in the State Tournament. Lexington Latin, last year’s state champions, was the winner of the 3rd and 4th Regional this year, again.
