8 for the Eight
- Updated: October 26, 2021
Donoho taking a veteran team to Birmingham for its third straight trip to volleyball Elite Eight
AHSAA STATE TOURNAMENT
CLASS 1A
Wednesday, 9 a.m.
Marion County (23-14) vs. Bayshore Christian (22-24)Woodland(23-11) vs. Ragland (20-17)
Kinston (26-10) vs. Donoho (47-9)
Lindsay Lane (35-15) vs. Sweet Water (22-8)
Semifinals, 3 p.m.
Marion County-Bayshore Christian winner vs. Woodland-Ragland winner
Kinston-Donoho winner vs. Lindsay Lane-Sweet Water winner
Championship
Thursday, 10 a.m.
Bill Harris Arena
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
Eight players on the Donoho volleyball team climbed into their little bus for a trip to state Elite Eight for the third year in a row Tuesday, but for the seniors in the bunch there was something that set this one apart from the others.
“Honestly, I think I feel way more excited for this one,” libero Naira Rehman said. “It’s our last chance to go to state, our last chance to get on this bus and prove how hard we’ve worked to the other teams and to ourselves. It feels more because it’s the culmination of all our work.”
The Lady Falcons have reached the championship match each of the last two years they’ve reached Birmingham, winning it all in 2019 and finishing second to Bayshore Christian last year.
They open this year’s run Wednesday at 9 a.m. against Kinston in the Birmingham Crossplex with a potential date against Lindsay Lane, the team they swept in the North Regional semifinals last week, at 3 p.m. The championship match is 10 a.m. Thursday in the adjacent Bill Harris Arena.
Seven of the Lady Falcons’ eight Elite Eight veterans will have played all three years here – Rehman, Maggie Wakefield, Mercy Mangum, Ayesha Siddiqua, Lily Grace Draper, Mary Marshall Perry and Estella Connell. Yana Osovska has been on all three teams, too, but missed last year’s Elite Eight due to COVID exposure.
Wakefield and Draper both have had 37 kills in the two championship matches, Mangum has had 29 and Siddiqua 49 digs.
Donoho coach Jamie Clendenin has been behind the wheel of the bus all three trips now, and this year’s trip feels a little different for him, too.
“I still get butterflies every single time,” he said, “but I feel like I’m way more relaxed than I was the last two years. We have eight who have been there three years in a row. If they go in there just playing calm, cool and collected it’ll be fine. If we take care of business I’ve got full confidence in us.”
As the players climbed into their bus, they all sought out special seats. They weren’t the same seats they sat in each of the previous two years or even the seats they remember – if they do remember – sitting in that first year when they won it all.
Their good karma is more recently connected.
“I remember where I sat last year but I’m not sitting in those same seats,’ Mangum said.
“I think we’re sitting in the same seats we’ve been sitting in all season,” Rehman said. “We’ve had a pretty good season so far. We’re trying to keep that together.”
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