Ridgeland, Gordon Lee headed to Columbus for state softball.
The Ridgeland Lady Panthers began the volleyball postseason on Oct. 6 as the fifth-best team, record-wise, in their own area.
Two weeks later, they became elite.
For the first time in 14 years, the Lady Panthers advanced to the Class 4A Elite Eight after sweeping Troup, 25-17, 25-19, 25-18, in a second-round match in Rossville this past Thursday night.
“All I can say is wow,” head coach April Lemonds beamed. “I’m just elated. I really can’t think of another word. I’m just so proud of these kids. They’re fighters, they won’t give up.”
Ridgeland, the Area 6 champions and Troup, the No. 3 seed from Area 5, battled for the majority of the opening set before the Lady Panthers began to take control in the later stages. The Lady Tigers held a lead in the second set, only to see Ridgeland chip away and eventually grab a two sets to none lead in the best-of-five.
Troup (18-16) forged an 8-7 lead in the third set when the Lady Panthers got a sideout and sent Te’a Owens to the line to serve.
And that’s when the Area 6 Player of the Year made her presence known in a big way.
With her powerful jump serve dialed in, Owens began to pick apart the Lady Tigers one serve at a time. Troup head coach Jodi Dowden even called timeout twice to try and ice Owens, but to no avail as the senior and Point University pledge ripped off 10 straight points to increase her team’s lead to 18-8.
The Lady Tigers would answer with a 7-1 run, prompting Lemonds to call a timeout of her own. But Ridgeland senior Zady Carden responded with a kill and Haleigh Fogtman followed up with a kill of her own to regain control for the Blackand-White.
Jamese Miller and Fogtman threw down kills to bring the score to 23-16 and one final kill by Owens brought Ridgeland to match point. Troup’s next shot would land out of bounds as the Lady Panthers’ bench and the home crowd exploded in joy.
Owens had volleyball’s version of a triple-double with 14 kills, 17 digs and 10 aces in the match. Seven of those aces came in the decisive third set. Fogtman had nine kills and a pair of blocks, while Carden and Miller had three kills and two kills, respectively.
Other standouts included Taylor Williams (24 assists, 8 digs, 2 aces), Morgen Simmons (13 digs) and Abbi Witherow (11 digs).
After a re-seeding of the final eight teams by the GHSA on Friday morning, Ridgeland was tabbed as the No. 5 seed and was matched up with No. 4 Columbus in a quarterfinal match in Columbus on Saturday.
However, the perennial powerhouse Blue Devils ended the season for the Lady Panthers with a 25-6, 2511, 25-11 victory.
Owens had five kills and 11 digs in the loss. Williams finished with eight assists, three digs and two kills. Simmons had four digs and an ace, while Witherow had five digs.
Ridgeland finished the season with a 2911 record. It was the furthest a Ridgeland team has advanced in the state since 2003 when the Lady Panthers made it through to the Final Four.