Eastside senior volleyball star Jayden Day could hardly speak as he walked off the court. As his teammates celebrated around him, Day held up his right arm and smiled.
“I’m literally shaking right now,” he said out loud while pointing at his arm that was, indeed, trembling. “This is unbelievable.”
Day was in disbelief, not because his Eagles had just clinched their third trip to the Upper State Championship in the past four years.
He was in disbelief because of how they did it.
After trailing two sets to zero — playing away vs. a Riverside team the Eagles had already lost to twice this season — Eastside rallied all the way back to win the final three sets. With a 15-13 victory in the decisive fifth set, Eastside earned its most memorable win of the season.
“When you go down two sets like that, the key is to stay mentally loose,” said Eastside head coach Adam Burgess. “In situations like that, this room and this court can get real tight. But we knew coming in, we were ready for a fight. We were ready to play five sets.”
Every single set of the match was decided by three points or fewer (27-25, 25-22, 25-23, 25-22, 15-13) between two rivals very familiar with one another.
Eastside seniors Day and Collin Jones made several huge kills down the stretch to keep the Eagles in the match, and sophomore Jonas Kelsey earned the match-winning point in set five.
“We were talking in the huddle, and we realized that this could be our last set of volleyball if we let it be,” said Jones. “We knew we had to leave it all out there and play our hearts out if we wanted to stay alive.”
“After that second set, I think we just flipped a switch,” said Kelsey. “We got our mentality right… after getting that final point, I just felt all the adrenaline and emotions rushing through me. All I could think about was how awesome this moment is. You don’t get many moments like that in life.”
Now, the Eagles will turn their attention to the Class 5-A D-II Upper State Championship on Tuesday, where they will travel to face Catawba Ridge.
It will be Eastside’s third appearance in the Upper State title game in the past three years. The past two trips have seen the Eagles fall short.
They’re confident this time will be different.
“We know it’s a big game against a great team, but we can’t let the moment get too big for us,” said Jones. “We have to stay composed, do our jobs, and get it done.”
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