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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

MONTGOMERY – The Coosa Valley Rebels earned a hard fought AISA Class 1A state championship with a five-set win over the South Choctaw Rebels, 3-2, in the state title match on Tuesday, Oct. 24.

Coosa Valley had to come from behind from two sets down to take a reverse sweep and win the match in a tiebreaking final set.

After sweep wins over Escambia and Snook to reach the finals, Coosa Valley found itself in a battle in the first two sets of the championship match against South Choctaw.

In the opening set, the teams were tied midway through the set before Coosa Valley pulled away to a 23-17 lead. South Choctaw came back and took the set in extra points, 26-24.

Coosa Valley was also close to winning the second set with a 22-19, but South Choctaw edged out a 25-23 win in the second set to put the pressure on Coosa Valley.

From there, though, Coosa Valley fought back and rallied for the win. CVA took a 21-15 lead and closed out the set from there with a great effort to win the third set, 25-21.

In the fourth set, South Choctaw emerged with the lead after a tight opening stretch, but Coosa Valley responded in a big way and rallied from being down 19-17. CVA surged to an 8-1 run to win the fourth set, 25-20, to tie the match and send it to a fifth and final set.

In the tiebreaking set, Coosa Valley had to come back again, this time from 6-1 down, to cut the gap to two before tying the set at 9. The teams traded blows until extra points as the state championship sat just two points away.

After they remained tied after the first round of extra points, Coosa Valley took back-to-back points to claim the championship with a 17-15 win in the fifth set.

The win capped off a long road to the state championship, including a quarterfinal victory over Escambia with set wins of 25-20, 25-22 and 25-19, and a semifinal victory against Snook thanks to set wins of 25-18, 25-22 and 25-17. During the run to the title game, Kadence Fields reached 1,000 career assists to power the Rebels’ offense, and she was one of many Coosa Valley players that helped the team accomplish its goal of a state title.