Bucs fall in state quarterfinals

BIRMINGHAM — The Hoover High School volleyball team put up a fight against McGill-Toolen on Wednesday in the Class 7A state quarterfinal.

Inside the Birmingham CrossPlex, the Bucs twice battled back from early deficits. But it wasn’t enough in the end. Hoover (31-10) saw its season come to a close with a 3-0 (22-25, 20-25, 20-25) loss to the state’s top-ranked team.

“I’m incredibly proud of how they played all year, and I’m proud of how they played today,” Bucs head coach Chris Camper said. “This wasn’t an effort deal. We played hard; we hustled. They made more plays than we did.”

McGill-Toolen created leads of 7-3 and 15-6 in the opening set, as Hoover struggled to slow down outside hitter Kenya McQuirter and middle blocker Alex Pierre. Nevertheless, the Bucs dug in their heels. Thanks largely to Paige Shaw’s powerful kills and Jamie Gregg’s accurate sets, Hoover went on a 14-5 run and tied it at 20-20. The Bucs couldn’t close it out, however, as McGill-Toolen took five of the final seven points.

“You’d like to have some opportunities early in this first match to kind of shake off the jitters and still come back. Well, you can’t do that against McGill,” Camper said. “You’ve got to come out firing, and they jumped on us.”

The second set followed a nearly identical blueprint to the first, though Hoover started faster initially. The teams were tied at 5-5 before McGill-Toolen found its groove. Hoover trailed 18-10 midway through the set and couldn’t claw its way back.

The Bucs had a better chance in the third set after opening a 12-6 edge, but McGill-Toolen rallied and tied it at 17-17. The teams then traded points to push the score to 18-18 and 19-19.

McGill-Toolen closed the match on a 6-1 run. During the final points, Shaw, an outside hitter, was stuck mostly on the back row of the rotation.

“When you’ve got a lot of your offense wrapped in one player, that’s a problem,” Camper said.

Shaw led the Bucs with 16 kills, while Gregg contributed 24 assists and 12 digs. Savannah Gibbs recorded a team-high 13 digs, and Brayden Williams had a team-high three blocks.

Hoover graduates five seniors in Shaw, Gregg, Gibbs, Williams and Anna Marie Auchmuty.

“It’s just an incredibly accomplished group,” Camper said. "In those four years, we’ve been to the finals twice, the Elite Eight all four, and that’s an amazing accomplishment.”