Lady Patriots secure state 6A volleyball title
BIRMINGHAM – In a city built on steel, it was mettle that won the day.
Bob Jones bullied its way to a seemingly insurmountable two set to none lead, then came off the deck to defeat Thompson 3-2 to capture the 2026 high school volleyball championship Wednesday.
It was the Lady Patriots’ first title since 2013 and third overall back to 2008. They finished runners-up to powerhouse McGill-Toolen in 2023 and 2024 on the same Bill Harris Arena Court that adjoins the Birmingham CrossPlex.
“I’m shaking, like I can’t stand still,’’ Brooklynn Morgan said hours later, a senior who started playing the sport as an 8th-grader for “funsies.’’
“Like you said, we’d get to the doorstep and we would like get there and we’d push as hard as we could and then they would just outplay us. I think the fact we came out aggressive right off the bat and we outplayed them and played for each other, I just think it made it that much better.’’
Of the match, pragmatic Bob Jones head coach Jenny Jarrett talked about the “roller- coaster ride.’’
“It still hasn’t sunk in,” said Jarrett, who also helmed the team during those losses to McGill-Toolen’s Dirty Dozen, during a break at a postgame feast that undoubtedly featured more frivolity than the Last Supper. “Everybody says that, but it’s true. It was a great moment for our program and thinking back the past five years we played in that game four times and three of those we weren’t able to finish,’’ She added.
“Those (past) players were awesome and they kind of, you know, paved the way for this moment.’’
As potential disaster loomed after Bob Jones’ dominant 2-0 lead dissolved into a 2-2 tie that forced the final finger-biting fifth set, the Lady Patriots didn’t wilt and won the finale. Even after the team dogpiled what they thought was the winning point, only having it overruled and play continued.
Bob Jones got off the floor, shrugged, didn’t call a time- out and won the next point creating state championship dogpile two to polish off a 25-14, 25-16, 23-25, 14-25, 15-10 triumph.
For Morgan, a team captain, the message she relayed to her teammates before the first serve of the match was simple.
“We’ve made it as far as we can. All we’ve got left is to put everything out there.’’
