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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

NORTH SHELBY – Under the Friday night lights of the Westminster School at Oak Mountain gym, the Westminster Knights delivered and punched their ticket to the super regionals.

Westminster OM defeated Holy Family Catholic and Vincent in the Class 2A, Area 9 tournament on Friday, Oct. 18 at home to claim the area championship.

With the wins, the Knights finished area play a perfect 8-0 and will head to the Class 2A north super regionals as the top team out of their area.

Westminster started out the day strong and punched its ticket to super regionals with a 3-0 sweep over the Holy Family Catholic Tornadoes in the area tournament semifinals.

After Vincent did the same and swept Cornerstone Schools of Alabama in straight sets, that set up a county battle for the area title between the Yellow Jackets and the Knights.

Westminster kept the momentum from its semifinal win going with a win in the opening set, taking a double-digit win by a score of 25-13 to go up 1-0 in the match.

The Knights continued to control the match in the second set and got out to an even wider lead over Vincent down the stretch.

Westminster’s 25-11 win in the second set put the Knights just one set win away from the area title, and they capitalized on that opportunity to close out the match in the following set.

In the third set, Westminster pulled away to a dominant lead and used that to put away the match at the end of the set.

The Knights took the third set 25-9 to seal the 3-0 win in straight sets and claim the area championship.

Junior outside hitter Olivia Montgomery earned Tournament MVP honors with her 10-kill performance in the championship match. Senior setter Ellie Tankersely earned 17 assists to help direct the offense.

In addition, Georgia Valentine made an impact as the junior outside hitter racked up nine aces from the service line in addition to her eight kills and seven digs, and senior middle blocker Adde Wright had seven kills against Vincent.

Westminster will now advance to the north super regionals and face North Sand Mountain on Wednesday, Oct. 23 at 10:15 a.m. at the Finley Center in Hoover. The Knights need two wins to advance to the Elite Eight at the Birmingham CrossPlex.