Providence Christian advances to state championship match

Providence Christian volleyball players are one win away from obtaining their goal — a state title.

The Eagles advanced to the Class A state championship match Wednesday, winning a pair of matches at the Elite Eight at the Pelham Civic Center.

Providence, ranked second in the state, defeated Spring Garden 25-15, 27-25, 25-6 early Wednesday morning then beat eighth-ranked Holy Spirit 25-10, 25-18, 25-15 Wednesday night.

The Eagles (37-8) play in the championship today at 1:30 p.m. against Athens Bible (35-11), a little bit of a surprise team in the title match.

The fifth-ranked Trojans stunned top-ranked Parkway Christian 24-26, 25-15, 25-20, 25-22 then upset fourth-ranked and defending state champion Gaston 18-25, 25-16, 25-21, 25-20 in the semifinals.

Andalusia, the Wiregrass’ other team at the Elite Eight, wasn’t as fortunate in Pelham Wednesday. The Bulldogs (25-14) were eliminated in the first round of the Class 4A tournament by top-ranked Guntersville 25-21, 25-9, 25-10. Guntersville (61-7) advanced to the state finals later Wednesday night.

Providence Christian dominated play most of the day, other than a rough second game against Spring Garden.

“I am proud of the girls,” Providence head coach Bill Oldfield said. “They played as a team and are peaking at the right time.

“We played good defense and the offensive sets were really clicking.”

In the Spring Garden win, Sara Cary delivered 29 assists, five kills, two aces and 11 digs, while Katie Dowd hammered 15 kills and earned 11 digs. Elizabeth Dowd had eight kills, 18 digs and two aces in the win.

Also for PCS against Spring Garden, Georgia Fabbrini had four aces, two kills and 14 digs, Whitney Devane had three kills and three digs and Madison Longchamp had 18 digs.

In the victory over Holy Spirit, Cary earned 28 assists, seven digs, four kills and an ace. Katie Dowd had 10 kills and 12 digs and Elizabeth Dowd 11 kills and eight digs.

Amy Brown earned three kills, three blocks and three digs and Fabbrini had six kills and four digs. Longchamp had 24 digs and two aces and Devane three kills and four digs.

The volleyball team becomes just the second Providence athletic team to reach a state championship contest since joining the Alabama High School Athletic Association in 2006. The Eagles baseball team advanced to the championship round in 2008 before falling short.

In an interesting twist, the baseball team also played Athens Bible in the finals.

Oldfield said he didn’t get to see Athens Bible play Wednesday to get any scouting reports.

“I don’t know much about them, although I do believe they have one dominant middle hitter and are a scrappy defense, which is I normally have seen of them,” Oldfield said.

“They are a tradition-rich program that is usually well-coached. I expect a tough match.”

Athens Bible and Providence met at the 2006 state tournament with the Trojans’ winning the opening-round contest.