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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

MONTGOMERY – The Chelsea Hornets may have entered the day on Thursday, Oct. 24 with their spot in the Elite Eight secured, but they ended the day with their second major plaque of the season.

Chelsea won the Class 6A South regional title after it defeated the Spanish Fort Toros 3-1 in the South Super Regional semifinals before sweeping the Pelham Panthers 3-0 in their fourth meeting of the season at the Cramton Bowl Multiplex in Montgomery.

“I’m so proud of the girls and their effort,” Chelsea coach Jamie Gill said. “They’re just not backing down to the pressure, and so I’m just super proud of how they responded to the pressures of area and regional play.”

The Hornets punched their ticket to the state tournament with 3-0 wins over Theodore and Pike Road on Wednesday, Oct. 23, but to earn a region championship, they had to get through the team they just reverse-swept in the area tournament finals a week ago: Pelham.

Chelsea took early command of the first set against the Panthers with a 6-1 run. Pelham cut the deficit to three shortly after that, but the Hornets used a 5-0 run to go up 12-5 over their area foes.

The Panthers responded to trail by just a couple of points, but Chelsea found ways through the Pelham block to maintain its lead.

The Hornets then won three straight points to take a 21-16 lead, and that put it just out of reach for the Panthers.

Pelham broke Chelsea’s serve twice in the final stretch, but Lauren Buchanan put the finishing touch on the 25-18 first-set win with a kill.

The Hornets emerged from a tight opening stretch to the third by going on a 6-2 run punctuated by a setter kill from Cara Belcher and another key kill from Alexis Rudolph to make the lead 9-5.

Pelham then drew within two to make it 11-9, but a Lila Willett ace sandwiched between two Buchanan kills made the lead 14-9. That advantage quickly grew to 18-11 off a pair of Panthers miscues before Perry Robinson called timeout.

A few points later with Pelham trailing 21-13, Caroline Hamby orchestrated a 4-0 run on the serve capped off by an ace to make the deficit 21-17.

While the Panthers couldn’t get the next shot to ride the tape and sent the serve back to Chelsea, they won the next two points and trailed just 22-19.

Willett broke up the serve with a kill, but Pelham responded with another point. It took kills from Buchanan and then Rudolph to put the set away for a 25-20 Hornets win.

Rudolph then took the serve to start the third set and got an ace to kick off a 3-0 run that included another Buchanan kill.

Belcher missed a pancake to keep the run alive, but a service error from the Panthers and another point made Chelsea’s lead 5-1 to begin the third.

Kylee Hester then led a 4-0 run from the service line to make it a 5-4 game, but Willett led a 4-0 run of her own for the Hornets capped by a Kaleigh Hall kill to take the lead to 9-4.

Pelham drew close once again to make the score 11-8 before Chelsea went on a 4-1 run to put the lead even further out of reach at 15-9.

A couple of points later, the Panthers cut the deficit to four once again, making the score 16-12, but the Hornets then regained the serve, which opened the door for Buchanan to take over.

She won the next four points off her arm to take the lead to 21-12, and Willett followed that with an ace. Soon enough, Chelsea had gone on a 6-1 run to get on match point with a 24-12 lead.

A service error briefly held up the celebrations, but Hall got the match-winning kill off the side out to seal the 25-13 third-set win, the sweep of Pelham and a regional championship.

Gill said the difference maker for the dominant victory compared to their tight first three meetings with the Panthers was simply playing their style of volleyball very well.

“I don’t know that we’re doing much different,” Gill said. “I think we’re just playing cleaner, more disciplined volleyball, and they’re just very focused on the goals that they’ve set for themselves and we just want to keep plugging away.”

Chelsea and Spanish Fort were tightly matched throughout the match with nearly every set going down to the wire.

The Toros had a slight advantage in the early points of the first set, leading 6-4 before the Hornets claimed the 7-6 lead off a 3-0 run.

Chelsea fended off Spanish Fort for the next few points before the Toros claimed a 10-9 lead off back-to-back points. The Hornets surged back with four straight points of their own to go up 13-10 and trigger a timeout.

That allowed Chelsea to control the middle portion of the set as it never led by more than four but still remained in front.

Spanish Fort chipped into the deficit and made it 21-19 before winning five straight points to flip the set on its head, going from trailing to leading 24-21 on set point.

The Hornets refused to go down quietly and won four straight points capped off by a Kaleigh Hall kill to get on set point themselves with a 25-24 lead.

However, the Toros dealt the decisive blow and took three points in a row to win the set 27-25.

Now facing a 1-0 deficit in the match after leading for much of the first set, Chelsea found itself in another hole down 4-0 to start the second set.

The Hornets responded soon enough with a 7-1 run to tie up the set. The two sides traded blows from there as Chelsea flipped a 16-13 deficit into a 16-13 tie and then a 20-17 deficit into a 21-20 lead.

Spanish Fort tied up the set at 21-21, but the Hornets won back-to-back points including an Alexis Rudolph ace to force a timeout with a 23-21 lead.

The Toros responded by taking the next two points, tying the set up at 23-23 and leaving it hanging in the balance. Chelsea grabbed two straight points for itself though, and that was enough to earn the 25-23 second-set victory and tie up the match at 1-1.

As the third set began, Spanish Fort held a narrow lead over the Hornets, who tied up the set at both 6-6 and 7-7 before the Toros went back in front each time.

Chelsea finally took control off a 5-0 run to take a 12-8 lead. Spanish Fort took a timeout right after the Hornets went up by four, but it couldn’t erase the deficit as it only grew from there.

Chelsea used a 7-1 run to make it a 22-12 lead, and while the Toros quickly made it a single-digit game, the Hornets won two more to get on set point with a 24-13 lead.

Spanish Fort made one last stand, taking advantage of a Chelsea service error to get an ace and fuel a 4-0 run. The Hornets stopped the momentum in its track and succeeded on their fifth chance at set point to win 25-17 and go up 2-1 in the match in the process.

Spanish Fort responded to the Chelsea set win by making the fourth set a much closer affair.

Much like the second set, the teams remained deadlocked in much of the opening stretch. Unlike that set though, it extended until the 12-12 mark before the Hornets took command of the lead.

Chelsea grabbed the 14-12 lead off back-to-back points and held it despite the Toros lurking just a couple of points behind for the next 10 points.

The Hornets emerged from a 20-20 tie with a 21-20 lead, but a Spanish Fort kill and a missed block from Chelsea gave the Toros a 22-21 lead.

The back-and-forth continued, but for each Spanish Fort point, the Hornets had an answer. Specifically, Buchanan had an answer.

She responded with a kill to tie up the set three times in a row, forcing extra points off the last one with a 24-24 tie.

Spanish Fort regained the lead once again to put itself back on set point, but Chelsea got another kill to tie things up at 25-25.

That’s when Buchanan struck again, this time not to tie, but to take the 26-25 lead off her fourth kill in five Chelsea points.

The Hornets then won the next point to earn an emotional 27-25 fourth-set win, wrapping up a 3-1 victory and a rematch with Pelham for the regional title.

After Chelsea defeated the Panthers in the finals, Gill looked back on the Spanish Fort game and said that they successfully disrupted the Toros offense with their serving to grab the win.

“I think they’re playing with a lot of confidence right now,” Gill said. “We were serving tough to try to make Spanish Fort out of system because they’re such a tough offensive team. If we can kind of spotlight one of their hitters and kind of camp out on them, then it definitely helps, and I think we were able to just keep them out of their normal rhythm.”

While the day was just for seeding, Gill said adding a regional title to their area title helped her team build more belief in itself that they are exactly where they belong: the Elite Eight.

“I think the win just gives you more confidence believing that you belong here and that you have all the skills and the talent to represent your school and your team well,” Gill said.”

The Hornets will face Cullman in the Elite Eight on Tuesday, Oct. 29 at 9 a.m. at the Birmingham CrossPlex. Should they win, they will play in the Final Four that same day at 4 p.m.