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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

NORTH SHELBY – The Westminster School at Oak Mountain Knights are rolling into the postseason as regular-season area champions and one of the top teams in Class 2A.

Westminster OM finished Class 2A, Area 9 play with a perfect 6-0 record, including sweeps of the Vincent Yellow Jackets and Cornerstone Schools of Alabama Eagles on the road to close out the area slate.

Then, the Knights earned a 2-0 sweep of the Isabella Mustangs on Tuesday, Oct. 7 at Oak Mountain Presbyterian Church to finish the regular season on a seven-match win streak.

The streak started with back-to-back sweeps of Holy Spirit Catholic and Vincent, the latter of which included a perfect game from Georgia Valentine in the first set.

Afterwards, Westminster played in back-to-back non-area matches against the Tuscaloosa Academy Knights and Altamont Knights.

The first match at TA on Thursday, Sept. 25 ended in a 3-1 win for WSOM with the visiting Knights winning the first two sets by scores of 25-20 and 25-14. However, Tuscaloosa Academy won the third set in a tight battle, 25-23, to briefly extend the match. Westminster finished the deal with a 25-16 win in the fourth set.

The Knights then went into their senior night on Tuesday, Sept. 30, a match that was also a rivalry battle against crosstown Altamont. That ended in a 3-0 sweep that sent Westminster into its final two area matches with a head full of momentum.

The Knights hit the road to Vincent on Thursday, Oct. 2 and got off to a fast start thanks to a 25-16 win in the first set.

Westminster carried that momentum into the second set but faced the Jackets’ best effort of the entire match. Still though, the Knights earned the win in the second set, this time by a score of 25-19.

From there, Westminster finished the job in the third set and wrapped up the sweep with the 25-17 set victory, clinching the regular-season area title in the process.

Olivia Montgomery led the offense with 16 kills as well as five aces and two digs. Valentine earned 13 kills, seven aces and three digs and Anna Carmichael secured 21 assists and a pair of aces.

The Knights went into the weekend after that and returned with a commanding performance at Cornerstone Schools on Monday, Oct. 6.

Having already swept the Eagles earlier in the season, Westminster started the match fast and made short work of Cornerstone. The Knights got a double-digit lead and ended the set with a 25-13 win to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

Westminster commanded the service line in the second set and used lengthy runs to keep the Eagles from getting a foothold in the matchup. The Knights quickly ended the second set after winning it by a score of 25-4.

That set up a third-set victory to end area play with a sweep for Westminster.

Valentine led the Knights with 13 kills, eight aces and three digs. Montgomery finished with 11 kills, four digs and three aces and Carmichael racked up 26 assists and three aces.

The Knights had a quick turnaround for their final match of the regular season on Tuesday, Oct. 7 against the Isabella Mustangs. However, since the match started late due to middle school and JV matches prior, the teams agreed to a best-of-three match for the non-area match.

Westminster powered through the short rest and raced ahead past Isabella. The Knights kept the Mustangs in single digits throughout the entire first set and eventually took the win by a score of 25-9.

The victory paved the way for another strong effort in the second set, but Isabella pushed to make it much closer. With the Mustangs in striking distance in the final points, Westminster closed the match strong and earned another sweep.

The Knights won the second set with a 25-22 effort and ended the regular season with a win.

Valentine had nine kills, six aces and five digs, Montgomery finished with eight kills, three aces and two digs and Hannah Anderson earned five digs and three aces.

Westminster finished the regular season with an 18-15 overall record in addition to its 6-0 area mark. The Knights will play Holy Family Catholic in the first semifinal on Friday, Oct. 17 at 5 p.m. at Oak Mountain Presbyterian Church.

With a win, Westminster will advance to the North Super Regionals and face the winner of Vincent vs. Cornerstone Schools in the championship at 7 p.m. The second semifinal will take place at 6 p.m.