The Briarwood Christian Lions came within two points of winning the 5A state championship last Thursday

for the first time under fourth year head volleyball coach Robbie Wilson.

The St. Paul Saints, however, edged the Lions out in five games to take that honor.

Wilson&8217;s group of seniors had been to the elite eight the past four years, but had never made it to the finals.

Entering the sub-state tournament at the Pelham Civic Center with a record of 35-5, Wilson said his team had two great matches over Muscle Shoals in the quarter-finals and Hartselle in the semi-finals and had to play well to win against both teams.

He said his girls had a great Wednesday and were excited about the finals.

Briarwood battled St. Paul&8217;s five straight games in the championship match Thursday.

The two teams went toe-to-toe or point-for-point in the fifth and final game until Briarwood led 10-7. A Leah Scoggins kill for Briarwood made it a 13-11 ball game.

But the plot would thicken with the score tied at 14-14.

Two straight kills by St. Paul&8217; ended the Lion&8217;s hopes. The five final game scores were 26-24, 20-25, 21-25, 25-21 and 16-14.

&8220;They represented everyone well,&8221; said Wilson of his Lions&8217; performance in the state tournament. &8220;We had a great team effort with lots of people contributing.&8221;

The Lions were led by Emmy DeShazo with 21 kills and 10 digs and by Haley Johnson with 20 kills and 17 digs.

Scroggins added 12 kills and Caroline Whitt had 53 assists.

While DeShazo and Johnson were both named to the Class 5A All-Tournament Team, Wilson stressed, &8220;We couldn&8217;t have done it without everyone contributing.&8221;

The Lions ended the season with a record of 37-6.

Year-end statistics for the Lions include:

Johnson, a junior, with 462 kills, 30 blocks, 251 digs, four

assist and 58 aces; Scroggins, a junior, with 289 kills, 57 blocks, 93 digs, 36 assist and 49 aces;

DeShazo, a senior, with 397 kills, 19 blocks, 93 digs, 10 assist and 84 aces; Whitt, a senior, with 43 kills, 21 blocks, 56 digs, 942 assist and 43 aces; Susannah Lamon, a senior, with four kills, 160 digs and 25 assists; and Whitney Dailey, a senior, with 130 kills, 52 blocks, 68 digs, 28 assist and 72 aces;

Allie Looney, a senior, with

four kills, 30 digs, five

assists and

57 aces; and

Stephanie McKinney, a junior, with 155 kills, 72 blocks, 11 digs, 7 assist, 5 aces

The future continues to look bright for Briarwood as the Lions started three juniors, and two sophomores saw lots of playing time. Wilson added that he has some talented freshmen coming up