McIntosh wins state volleyball championship

After coming up just short in last year’s state playoffs, the McIntosh Lady Chiefs had only one goal in mind for the 2013 season – going all the way.

“We’ve been thinking all year about that runner-up finish,” said head coach Wendy Weaver of last year’s AAAAA state finals, when her squad lost to Whitewater.
This year’s team steamrolled through its schedule and took home the state title last Friday by winning three of four games against Sequoyah in the best-of-five championship match at Marietta High School.

It was Weaver’s second state crown in 10 seasons as McIntosh head coach, having won previously in 2007.
This year’s team compiled a record of 42-6. Those are match wins under the best-of-three or best-of-five format, but even more impressive is the fact that the Lady Chiefs did not drop a single game for an entire month leading up to the Sequoyah match. Their last loss was Oct. 5 to Blessed Trinity in that school’s tournament.

Since opening the season 5-3 after an Aug. 22 loss to Chattahoochee, McIntosh has won 37 of 40 matches and 82 of 93 games.
Weaver will be losing six seniors off this year’s team, all of whom were starters. Five of them were on the court for the championship point.

The soon-to-be graduates are Miara Bryant, Mollie Michel, Rhana Mitchell, Rhegan Mitchell, Kassandra Robert and Abbi Schelkopf.
As expected, there are plenty of college prospects in the bunch, and three have already committed. The Mitchell twins are bound for Virginia Tech, while Schelkopf plans to go to Jacksonville State.