What a season!

It all came to an end at 12:38 p.m. Saturday at the VCU Siegel Center in Richmond. And while it ultimately ended in disappointment, they went into the game knowing only one team can claim the mantle of state champion. For 2016, that honor went to the undefeated Rappahannock County Panthers. But the Mathews volleyball team didn’t give up the crown without a fight.

For many, the Lady Devils’ path to Saturday’s state championship game had begun years before as the girls worked their way through the junior varsity ranks before eventually earning a spot on Pat Moughon’s squad.

A number of the girls—seniors Josey Bauby, Keely Crittenden, Emily Sorey, Hallie Duncan and Madison South, and juniors Anne Stewart and Belle Massimino—had gone to the Siegel Center two years earlier as members of another Lady Devil team that had made it all the way to the state title game.

Also on the bench as an assistant coach was 2013 MHS alumnus Mackenzie Mou...