The St. Paul's School for Girls Gators pose for a team photo shortly after their three game sweep of Archbishop Spalding in the IAAM A Conference Volleyball Championship Match.
In the middle of a storm of St. Paul's School students who mobbed the floor at Villa Julie College's gymnasium Saturday night after the Gators won the IAAM A Conference volleyball championship, Bailey Webster smiled and hugged several classmates and teammates. A year ago, on the court at Goucher College, Webster watched in agony as the opportunity at the title eluded her by the closest of margin.
Redemption came with little doubt for Webster and St. Paul's, who swept defending Archbishop Spalding in straight sets, 25-16, 25-19 and 25-15. Webster was happy to exorcise the thoughts of last year's defeat to the Cavaliers.
"We were one point away from winning the championship, and you think about it everyday," said Webster, a junior. "It makes you want to win this match and play well the whole time."
Webster was again the driving force for the Gators (18-1) with 25 kills and three blocks. The six foot, four inch hitter may be destined to be the best high school performer to come out of the Baltimore metro area, but St. Paul's championship run was far from a solo effort.
Seniors Jillian Unitas and Bailey Griswold had nine and six kills, respectively, and setter Rachel Kelly finished with 40 assists and four blocks. Koran Bae and Liz Vlk were defensive aces, but Unitas, who recently returned to the lineup after missing four weeks because of an ankle injury, was the undeniable glue.
"She's our best all-around player who can pass, hit and do everything," said Webster. "That was a big plus for us and everybody stepped up."
"We just played as a team," said Unitas, who's the granddaughter of iconic Baltimore Colts quarterback Johnny Unitas. "We had so much fun, and the black uniforms really brought us together. Our names on the back helped too."
Unitas' first game back was three weeks ago against Spalding (17-3), which handed the Gators their only setback in league play. St. Paul's said the result was the turning point of its season.
"That was a big awake call. We were totally off that tonight," said Gators coach Kelli Wilkinson, whose team finished tied with Spalding and Mount de Sales during the regular season. "In the past week, we've really come together as a team."
There was very little reservation they were the best team in IAAM A Conference, sweeping all three postseason matches en route to their second championship in three seasons. St. Paul's opened up an early six-point advantage Saturday before closing the first set with a 10-4 run. Leading 18-16 in the second set, the Gators finished with a 7-3 surge, capped by Webster's kill.
St. Paul's didn't slow down, building an 11-2 advantage in the third set. The sweep was complete when the Cavaliers were unable to dig out a serve from Rachel Kelly, setting off the storm of St. Paul's faithful onto the floor.
Though his team was denied a second straight championship, Spalding coach Scott Rombach was proud of his team's effort during the IAAM campaign. He said the Gators, with the imposing presence of Webster on the line, are a difficult task.
"There's nothing you can do," said Rombach, who received nine kills from senior Stephanie Howard and seven by senior Kelly Galligan. "You can't do much when she's putting the ball over and around your block. We blocked her a couple of times, but she's going get her points."
Webster, Kelly and Griswold were selected to the A Conference all-star squad with Galligan and Andrea Catucci from Spalding. The rest of the team featured Katy Buck, Shannon Clancy and Kasey Mercier from Mount de Sales, Kaitlin O'Hara from St. Vincent Pallotti, Institute of Notre Dame's Caitlin Bopp, Christina Greenway from Seton Keough, John Carroll's Katie Peusch and Emily Welsh from Chapelgate Christian.
The Gators no longer have to worry about the point that never came a year ago. As the scremaing fans stormed the floor, St. Paul's had finally found peace.
"It's like karma, it's come full circle and you finally release that angst," said Wilkinson. "Last year, we played not to lose, we didn't play to win."
"It wasn't that we played horrible or we didn't want to win. They [Spalding] played well and worked harder that night," Webster said about last year. "We wanted to come back and show people that we wanted it too."