The Siegel Cavaliers took a regular season championship, a 28-2 record, and a 13-0 league record into the league tournament hosted by Christiana Middle School.

The results really weren’t surprising as Siegel Middle finished at 31-2 and undefeated against the league.

It wasn’t easy as the Cavaliers were challenged by Oakland Middle in the semifinals and by Blackman Middle in the finals. Siegel beat Oakland 25-14 and then had to go some extra time to win game two, 28-26.

The Blackman Flames also proved tough but eventually fell 2-0 in the championship game. The second game was very close, 25-19.

The early rounds held some drama as well. Oakland had some trouble beating a solid Smyrna Panther squad, and Siegel, coached by Brandon LaDue, rallied from a 9-9 score to finally beat an improved Falcon team from Stewarts Creek, 25-11.

The Siegel starters, Hannah Adams, seventh-grader Ashley Wessener, Leah Poarch, Kailey Hayes, Alexis Radtke and Emma Hatchett seem to have fun with the game and with each other.

Whitworth-Buchanan and Rockvale were evenly matched.

The last time they played the Ravens won, the time before the Yellow Jackets won and this time the Yellow Jackets prevailed as well and won game one 25-10.

Rockvale roared back and won game two 25-20, behind five close out serves from team sparkplug Mary Tod Newberry. Whitworth-Buchanan, led by Anna Todd, won the final in a squeaker, 15-13.

In another earlier game, Blackman Middle beat a talented but mistake prone Rock Springs team 25-22 and 25-20.

Blackman’s Haily Lopez was the serving leader for the Flames. Blackman, coached by Rod Edwards, eventually advanced to the finals by beating Whitworth-Buchanan (25-14, 22-25, 16-14). Loryn Sherwood of the Flames had the three game-winning serves for Blackman.

All in all it was a fine season for the volleyball league where the quality of play seems to get better every year.

Christiana Middle did an excellent job this year organizing the 2012 tournament and hospitality room.