Pleasant Valley's Lady Raiders took a lot of enthusiasm and confidence with them to the Elite Eight state finals at the Pelham Civic Center, largely due to how well they played in sub-state against Holly Pond.

As the luck of the draw would have it, Pleasant Valley had to face off in the opening game against Bayside Academy, a team that had dominated Alabama volleyball with seven straight state championships.

Despite going down 11-5 in the first game, the Lady Raiders rebounded, and played well enough behind hard hitting middle hitter Jessie Kate Stewart and outside hitter Whitney Glass to overcome the deficit and take a 15-13 and then 17-15 lead over the defending champions.

Bayside Academy fought back to take a 27-25 win in game one and went on to win the next two games 25-9, 25-18 to win the match.

The first game loss seemed to take the wind out of the sails of the Lady Raiders as they went quickly behind in game two and just couldn't make up the difference.

Game three saw the Lady Raiders once again scrapping, but couldn't overcome the hits of the taller and more powerful Bayside Academy hitters like Gabby Deshotel who had 12 kills and six blocks, Virginia Pittman with eight kills and Savannah Simmons with seven kills and five blocks.

For Pleasant Valley, Jessie Kate Stewart finished with 10 kills and five blocks and Whitney Glass with five kills. Setter Ashley Bryant had 23 assists.

Lady Raider head coach Dana Bryant was understandably proud of the season her girls put together.

"Overall we had a good season. I am proud of the way the girls improved," she said.

"Our hitting was stronger this year, and we had new starters that really stepped up their game to help create a stronger team.

"Everyone on the team had a role, and when everyone played hard we were successful. Our success truly was a team effort.

Pleasant Valley ended the season with a 33-26 record.

Bayside Academy went on to win their eighth straight state title, a state record.