Euphoria: Lady Chargers win Class II Volleyball State Championship

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Jared Redding

The OHS Volleyball team hoists the golden ball after winning the MHSAA Class II State Championship.

Jared Redding, Sports Editor

JACKSON — The championship drought finally came to an end.

The Oxford Lady Chargers swept the defending class II state champion Lewisburg Lady Patriots 3-0 (25-11, 25-19, 25-15). The Lady Chargers won their first state title since 1998.

“These girls have worked so hard,” OHS head coach Tara Ross said about her team. “Our whole goal this year was mental strength and toughness. I feel like they they’ve done nothing but show that. Im just beyond proud for all of them, every one of them.”

“Its so surreal,” senior Ragan Freeze said about their team’s accomplishment. “We were the only ones who thought we could make it this far and we did exactly what we thought we were going to do.”

A phenomenal senior class finally goes out on top.

“I was talking to Ragan (Freeze) about it earlier. I was like ‘look, we have fought five years for this. Every practice, every game we didn’t feel like playing or practicing we didn’t feel like going to, or training that we didn’t want to do, this is leading up to this day. We can either make this day a memory or a regret.’”

“This six (seniors), they mean the world to me. I’m so happy for them,” Ross said.

Even with a strong class of seniors, it was a total team effort all season long that ended with a dog pile, medallions given, and hoisting a gold ball.

“We could not have sone this without being a team and being together,” Hobson said.

The first set was almost a mirror image of the final four match the previous day against the Ridgeland Lady Titans. The Lady Chargers jumped out to a 7-0 run point run before the Lady Titans in a blink of an eye. Against Lewisburg, Oxford started the first set on fire, going on a 10-2 run, forcing Lewisburg to call their first timeout. Later on in the first set, the Lady Chargers continued to put the heat on the Lady Patriots by making the score 21-8 and not looking back from that point.

The second set was also similar to the day before, the Lady Chargers would have to battle back from an early deficit. They did just that, Oxford erased a 7-1 deficit and took a 8-7 lead. The Lady Chargers would eventually fight off the Lady Patriots and win the second set.

The Lady Patriots were determined to extend their season for another set, but Oxford was just too much to handle down the stretch. The Lady Chargers finished the third set on a 16-6 run, giving Oxford a gold ball.

“That was the funnest game of my life, I have never had that much fun playing the game that I love,” Hobson said. “I’m so pumped for my team.”