CRESTVIEW — A few minutes before 8 p.m. Thursday Crestview High School outside hitter Kierra Potts slammed home a kill sending her teammates and the Bulldog student section into a celebration of pandemonium.
Fans took selfies with Bulldog players and Crestview Principal Dexter Day was all smiles as he congratulated the players amidst a sea of students.
Potts’ kill was the finishing touches on Crestview’s District 1-7A volleyball win over Niceville that went five sets and lasted just less than two hours. The scores were 25-13, 25-20, 23-25, 27-29, 17-15. It was the first Bulldog volleyball win over Niceville in a decade or more.
Crestview-Niceville volleyball photos>>>
“We fought with all our heart this game,” Potts said. “It was just phenomenal. We just came together as team.”
Crestview (15-8, 4-4) seemed well on its way to making short work of the Eagles (11-12, 6-2).
With Potts, Cailey Ness, Molly Kitchen and Marisa Rogers leading the way the Bulldogs cruised to wins in the first two sets and were up 18-11 in the third set when the Eagles rallied behind the play at the net of Steph Kaufman.
Niceville closed out the set with a 14-5 run to pull within a set of the Bulldogs. The fourth set was a cliffhanger early until the Eagles pushed the lead to 14-9.
A Christa Johnson kill seemed to rally the Bulldogs as Crestview eventually took the lead at 21-19. The teams traded points until a kill by Shelby Young and a dink point by Sam Mims gave the Eagles the set.
Crestview seemed to have the fifth set under control at 7-2, but Niceville had one more rally left behind the play of Kaufman. Niceville tied the set at 14-14 and 15-15. But an Eagle service error and the final of Potts’ 20 kills gave the Bulldogs the long awaited win.
“We’ve been working four years for this and we finally pulled it off,” Kitchen said as tears of joy rolled down her cheeks. Every trial was worth it.
“I had a feeling we were going to pull it out this time and we did. Every single player has worked hard for this for four years. Every player has given everything that they had and this shows what we can do.”
Crestview Coach Kathy Combest said she challenged the Bulldogs with three things in Wednesday’s practice.
“I asked them to have faith, believe in themselves and trust each other,” she said.
Potts had five blocks and an ace to go along with her 20 kills. Rogers had six aces and four kills. Ness had seven kills and Nichole LeFevre had five kills.
Eagle Coach JM Plummer was proud of the way his team battled back.
“That third set where we came back took a lot of emotional energy out of us,” They are very tired. We’ve been on the road all week.
“I was a little surprised that they came out and showed that much heart in the third set. I know it was a tough battle for them in the fourth and fifth. I’m really proud of them for going that deep into the game.”
EmailNews Bulletin Sports Editor Randy Dickson, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Bulldogs take down Eagles (PHOTOS, VIDEO)