Jackson wins tournament, continues undefeated start to season

Jackson poses with the championship plaque after defeating Northpoint Christian in the Jackson Varsity Volleyball Multi-State Showcase on Sept. 7 at Jackson High School.

Photo Courtesy of Carrie Trovillion - Freelance Photographer

For the first time since David Mirly took over as Jackson’s head coach of girls volleyball, the Indians won a tournament they hosted. Jackson did so by defeating St. Claire High School (MO), Dyer County High School (TN) and Northpoint Christian School (MS).

The Indians started the day against Dyer County and defeated the Choctaws two sets to one by scores of 25-13, 18-25 and 25-22. Jackson then defeated St. Clair in straight sets by scores of 25-18 and 25-8 before defeating Northpoint Christian two sets to one by scores of 25-17, 18-25 and 25-20.

Mirly said he got to see both sides of his team today, both how they looked while playing well and how they looked while struggling.

“I got to see our talent shine and I got to see our youth show, so I got to see a little bit of everything. We grew together today as a team, which was wonderful. It was a great day because we had players play at a high level and we had players struggle at times,” Mirly said. “When you struggle, you find out what you're made of. Those girls who struggled at times were able to bounce back on the next play and still play at a high level, so that was outstanding to see that growth.”

Jackson only lost two sets all day, however, the two losses were one-sided by their opponents with the Indians making short runs toward the end. Both times Jackson was able to win the third and final set by close margins.

Mirly said he was happy with the way his team was able to respond to adversity and put together winning volleyball when it mattered most.

“This group is resilient, competitive and they want to win. Even though in those two second sets we kind of got beat pretty badly, we knew the third set starts at 0-0 so we had a fresh start,” Mirly said. “Sometimes you get a fresh start like that, you just take a deep breath and realize that, hey, we got to do a few things differently. That's what we did all day today.”

Northpoint Christian flew through the tournament before meeting the Indians in the championship, defeating Dyer County and St. Clair in straight sets. The 16-1 Trojans matched up well with the height of Jackson and made things interesting with a three-set match.

“I'm very proud of them because this is the first time since I've been at Jackson that my team won a Jackson tournament. Most of the time we haven’t even made the championship game, this may be one of the first times we made the championship game, so I was very proud of them for doing that,” Mirly said. “For this young group to come out and win against a team that was 16-1 when the last game started and now they're 16-2.”

Jackson’s next game is on Monday where they will host powerhouse Incarnate Word Academy at 6 p.m.