The Lady Buccaneers from Boyd-Buchanan were looking for a little revenge when they entered the gymnasium at Silverdale Baptist Academy Tuesday afternoon.

They got what they were looking for as they beat the host Lady Seahawks in three straight sets to win the District 5-A volleyball tournament, the fifth straight year that the Lady Bucs have prevailed in the district tournament.

Boyd-Buchanan had won a close 3-2 match in the first meeting between these two teams, but Silverdale came back for a 3-1 win in their second meeting to earn the top seed in the 5-A tournament.

While the first two matches had basically gone down to the wire with some extremely competitive action on both sides, Tuesday's match was sort of anti-climactic as the Lady Bucs jumped on top early and never let up, winning by scores of 25-18, 25-15 and 25-23.

The Lady Bucs will face Lookout Valley on Monday in a Region 3-A semifinal match at Silverdale while the Lady Seahawks will face 6-A champion Sale Creek.

With Katie Delay serving five straight points in the opening set, the Lady Bucs bolted to a quick lead before Silverdale coach Rhonda Hawkins called her first timeout.

The Lady Seahawks got to within three points on four occasions later in the set, but the Lady Bucs broke from a 19-16 advantage to score six of the final eight points for the early advantage.

Silverdale had a 4-0 lead in the second set, but again, Delay went to the service line and reeled off seven straight points and the Lady Bucs slowly pulled away for a 2-0 lead.

The third set was by far the most competitive as the score was tied 11 times, the last time at 21 before Kristen Reynolds recorded a pair of kills around a kill by teammate Madison Howard. 

Then with the Lady Bucs ahead 24-23 for match point, a service error by Silverdale ended it as Boyd-Buchanan improved to 27-13.

"I'm pretty happy right now," said Boyd-Buchanan coach Ashley Rose.

"I put my shoes and socks on in the same order as I did yesterday as I didn't want to change anything, but we wanted to take advantage of our experience and that's what we did.  I knew if we could score the first four or five points early that we'd by okay.

"We wanted to get ahead and stay ahead, but today was one of our best matches of the year.  We've been in this situation before and we wanted that experience to benefit us.  It's nice to come in here and beat them in their gym," Rose added.

Silverdale's Hawkins felt like her team suffered from a case of nerves and that by the time they started playing their style of volleyball, the match was all but over.

"I think they played their best match of the year and we didn't," Hawkins said after her team's record fell to 23-11.

"They were mistake-free as they brought their best game and we didn't.  It hurts for these girls right now, but I told them to hold their heads high and to focus on all the positives.  We've never played in a district tournament championship match before and we weren't relaxed.

"Boyd-Buchanan played great volleyball and their win is not a fluke.  I just hope that we show up ready to play next time," Hawkins added.

Jessica Kirk had 15 digs and a dozen kills to go along with three aces to lead the Lady Bucs as she earned tournament MVP honors.

Delay finished with 30 digs and two aces while Howard had 10 kills and six digs with an ace.  Kristen Reynolds had 15 assists to go along with nine digs and six kills and an ace.  All three earned all-tournament honors.

Hannah Mench, Kerri Whittaker and Bryce Killingsworth were all-tournament picks for the Lady Seahawks.

Mench had six kills while Whittaker had 16 digs and two aces.  Killingsworth finished with 10 digs, four kills and one assist.

Other all-tournament selections included Erika Goodman and Emily Gill of Grace and CSAS teammates Asia Wiggins and Grace Vanderwerf.

ALL-DISTRICT TEAM: Katelyn Couch, Mackenzie Harris, Molly Kane (Silverdale); Madison Howard, Mandi Jones, Jessica Kirk (Boyd-Buchanan); Allie Emmett, Brittany Patmon (CSAS); Emily Gill, Erika Goodman (Grace), Lindsey Brackett (Copper-Basin).  Kerri Whittaker (Silverdale) and Kristen Reynolds (Boyd-Buchanan) are co-MVPs while Rhonda Hawkins (Silverdale) and Samantha Everett (CSAS) are co-Coaches of the Year.

SILVERDALE STATS:

Molly Kane -- 2 kills, 2 digs, 1 block;

Katelyn Couch -- 2 kills, 11 assists, 1 ace, 2 digs;

Bryce Killingsworth -- 4 kills, 1 assist, 10 digs;

Hannah Mench -- 6 kills;

Kerri Whittaker -- 2 aces, 16 digs;

Mackenzie Harris -- 7 kills, 1 assist, 1 ace, 4 digs;

Caroline Couch -- 1 kill, 2 assists, 2 digs;

Lindsay Barlew -- 5 digs.

BOYD-BUCHANAN STATS:

Mandi Jones -- 12 digs, 6 kills;

Jessica Kirk -- 15 digs, 12 kills, 3 aces;

Madison Howard -- 6 digs, 10 kills, 1 ace;

Kristen Reynolds -- 9 digs, 6 kills, 15 assists, 1 ace;

Sarah Cupp -- 7 digs;

Lindsey Yates -- 9 digs, 22 assists;

Sydney Spencer -- 3 kills;

Lauren Van Eaton -- 2 digs, 3 kills;

Katie Delay -- 30 digs, 2 aces.

(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@comcast.net)