The West Florida Baptist Academy (WFBA) Lady Conquerors concluded their historic 2014 volleyball season in Dayton, TN, at the National Association of Christian Athletes (NACA) national tournament.
To earn their way to nationals, the Lady Conquerors recorded a Florida pre-season invitational tournament championship, an Alabama mid-season invitational tournament championship, the Panhandle Christian Conference (PCC) Eastern Division championship and the PCC Conference championship, the first for WFBA.
Individual awards at these tournaments included All Conference/Tournament medals – Ashtyn Kaunitz x 3, Mary Kelly x 3, Esther Burdick x 1, Amber Leavins x 1; MVPs – Mary Kelly x 3.
Entering the NACA tournament 26-0, the Lady Conquerors defeated all three pool play opponents to earn a #6 seed in Division 1 (of 4 Divisions), another first for WFBA: Haywood Christian of Clyde, TN, 25-17, 25-11; Legacy Charter of Greenville, SC, 25-3, 25-6 and Hearts for Jesus of North Olmsted, OH, 25-14, 25-15, the Division 2 champion and an Ohio state champion.
The Lady Conquerors first loss of the season came in their first game of D1 tournament play to the D1 runner up and #3 seed The Rock Christian of Gainesville, FL (14-25, 17-25), and their second loss came from #8 seed Evangel Christian of Alabaster, AL (19-25, 22-25), who upset the #1 seed. The Lady Conquerors defeated Carroll Christian of Westminster, MD, in their final match for their 30th win (20-25, 25-17, 15-9).
Their final victory placed the Lady Conquerors 9th of 40 volleyball squads at NACA nationals, ending their season 30-2.
Also making history was the Lady Conquerors JV squad who defended their PCC Junior Varsity championship and finished with an unblemished 16-0 JV record. Individual awards for the JV squad included All Tournament medals for Katelyn Leavins and Brittany Lyons and an MVP trophy for Brittany Lyons.
(The final match of pool play versus the D2 champion can be seen at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQliYYjyWLU#t=2776)
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This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: WFBA Lady Conquerors make volleyball history