River Bluff falls to Dorman in Gators’ bid to win first volleyball state championship
Bryan Piro’s message to his River Bluff volleyball team was the same — making memories.
The Gators made plenty of memories along the way to Thursday’s Class 5A championship match. But Dorman robbed River Bluff of the final memory of the season by defeating the Gators, 3-1 (25-15, 23-25, 25-20, 25-17) in front of a raucous crowd at Dreher High School.
After the match, Piro gathered his team in a circle and reflected on the past several months, which included the Gators’ first trip to the state championship.
“I told them how super proud of them I was and they had nothing to hold their head down on,” Piro said. “They are winners, lower state champions. They made history. We talked all season long on making memories and let it be a season about making memories and they have done that.
“We have done a lot of firsts for River Bluff volleyball in our program, and they know they are coming back. They are going to work hard and come back.”
The Gators (30-12-1) made it to the state championship by knocking off Wando, another one of the state’s powerhouse programs. But Prio knew facing a senior-laiden Dorman program would be a tall task.
The Cavaliers took the first set 25-15 before River Bluff’s nerves calmed down in the second set. The Gators jumped out to a 6-2 lead before Dorman rallied to tie it at 17. Kylie Wilson’s kill put River Bluff up 19-17, but then Ava Reeves’ point gave the Gators a 25-23 win to even the match. It was the first set Dorman lost all playoffs.
“We knew coming in the first set was going to be a wash with the emotions coming in,” Piro said. “Second set we came out a lot stronger.”
River Bluff led 9-7 early in the third set before four straight points by Dorman. The Cavaliers never trailed the rest of the set. In the fourth set, River Bluff led 3-1 but Dorman won five of the next six points. Lauren Mims’ kill put the Cavs up 9-4, and they never looked back.
It was Dorman’s 14th state championship and first since 2017. All the championships have come under coach Paula Kirkland, who also picked up her 1,000th victory as coach earlier this year.
Dorman (33-4) lost only one match since August, a 3-1 defeat to SCISA 3A runner-up Cardinal Newman on Oct. 5.
“It is our goal every year,” Kirkland said of winning a state title. “We have been through a drought and haven’t won since 2017. We knew we had the pieces and every piece of the puzzle. It was just a matter of executing. River Bluff was a formidable opponent, and we knew they would be. But I am so proud of my kids.”
Mims led Dorman with 18 kills and Savannah Freeman had 15. Sierra Dudley had eight kills and 48 assists.
This story was originally published November 4, 2021 at 10:57 PM.
