By Kevin Eckleberry

kevin.eckleberry@lagrangenews.com

LAGRANGE – They finally got a close one to go their way.

During the regular season, the LaGrange Lady Grangers were competitive in nearly every match they played, but they had a hard time closing them out, which is why they ended up as the number seven seed for the Area 5-AAAA volleyball tournament.

When it came to the most important match of the season, though, LaGrange flipped that script.

Facing Troup in the second round of the area tournament, LaGrange came away with a big win to keep its season alive.

LaGrange went on to beat Sandy Creek to advance to the area semifinals and assure itself of a spot in the state playoffs.

LaGrange fell to Chapel Hill in its final match in the area tournament to finish fourth, and it will face Area 7-AAAA champion Marist today.

The match, which will be played at Marist, is set to begin at 5 p.m.

LaGrange is playing its best volleyball of the season right now.

After finishing the regular season with a pair of wins, LaGrange went 2-2 in the area tournament to make it to state.

Even when the Lady Grangers were losing, they were competitive, they just struggled during the most critical times of a match.

“This has been one of the most frustrating years as far as not being able to finish,” LaGrange coach Angie Newton said. “We’ve had a real hard time being able to finish. We go down to the wire, and we can’t pull it off in the end.”

On the final day of the regular season, LaGrange beat Callaway and Valley, giving it some momentum heading to the area tournament.

At the area tournament, LaGrange lost its opener to Central-Carroll, while Troup lost to Cartersville.

That put both teams in a must-win situation in the double-elimination tournament, and it was LaGrange coming away with the victory.

LaGrange still needed to win another match to secure a state spot, and it made that happen against Sandy Creek.

LaGrange had a chance to reach the area championship match, but it lost in three sets to Chapel Hill.

Marist is 35-3 and hasn’t lost since August.

ROSTER: Jaiden Gill, Kiara Owens, Rachel Wooten, Ke’Tara Birt, Shaela Battle, Cameron Jones, Ava Smith, Chloe Beall, Carmen McGhee, Hannah Holcomb, Emery Davenport and Madison Lewis.