By Robert Wilson
Jackson Academy won nine of 10 MAIS state volleyball championships before Madison-Ridgeland Academy won the last two and defeated the Lady Raiders in the championship games both times.
Despite that history, JA coach Melissa Denson didn’t bring up the rivalry as she prepared her girls for Thursday’s first regular season battle with MRA.
“We treated this like any other match,” Denson said. “MRA has a talented team and we knew we had to battle to win. In the pregame speech, it was more about our personal and team goals, rather than focusing on who’s on the other side of the net.”
Denson’s strategy worked as JA swept MRA, winning all three sets, 27-25, 25-15, and 25-22 at JA’s Raiderdome in Northeast Jackson.
JA improved to 5-1 this season and bounced back from a 3-1 loss Tuesday at defending MHSAA Class 7A state champion Ocean Springs, which has won 29 of its last 30 games against Mississippi teams.
MRA lost its first game this year after five consecutive victories, 11 straight wins dating back to a loss to JA Sept. 30 last season.
JA lost only one starter (Kinsey Williams is now playing at Itawamba Community College) from last year’s team, which finished 32-9-1 and was swept by MRA in the state championship game.
Senior outside hitter Carson Caraway – the 2025 Mississippi Gatorade Volleyball Player of the Year and Loyola Marymount, Calif., University commitment – leads the returning starters. Other starters back from last year are senior outside hitter Madelyn Rodrigue, senior setter Darby Horn, senior libero Anna Holladay Craft, and sophomore middle blocker Asia Lindsay. The new starters are freshman middle blocker Lorin Bass and either juniors Brooklyn Lopez or Kacyn Jones on the right side. Junior setter Lillie Henson is the top player off the bench.
Unlike the championship loss last year, JA won the big points and made less mistakes Thursday night.
“I think we won tonight because we didn’t let a mistake rattle us,” Denson said. “We knew they’re talented so mistakes are a part of it. They were resilient mentally and that’s a huge step in the right direction. Our seniors did a great job leading and scoring, but it was so much fun to see my younger or newer starters play big roles. Asia, Kacyn, Lorin, Brooklyn, and Lillie really handled the match with poise and had a fire in them that they weren’t going to let our team down. Carson, Anna Holladay, Madelyn and Darby have been such staples for our program, so to see the younger ones step up in big moments and watch the seniors celebrate them was something special. It was a full team effort.”
“So far throughout this season, we’ve approached the games that we’ve played a little differently than in the years past,” Caraway said. “We’re really focusing on trying to treat every game the same and to put the same amount of energy in each. This game definitely was pretty big for us, especially since it was a conference game, and we talked previously about what expectations and standards we were going to hold ourselves to, no matter who we were playing. The first set was pretty tense, but as soon as we could get consistent energy on and off the court, we were able to keep it going throughout the rest of our play. We knew going into this that it wasn’t a game where we could just make a million mistakes and still win. We met as a team before and communicated the goals that we wanted to reach throughout the game. This year, I feel like we are so much more confident on relying on each other to do our jobs, and that has taken a good bit of pressure off of us as a team. Our program is so well rounded, and we’re able to support and hold each other accountable throughout our play.”
With Thursday’s win, Denson now has a 289-67 record (an 81.2 winning percentage) with five state titles in her ninth season at JA and has a 328-94 overall record (a 77.7 winning percentage) in 11 seasons, her first two at Clinton High.
She knows that the victory over MRA Thursday isn’t the last time her team will see MRA. JA defeated MRA twice in the regular season last year before losing to them in the championship. JA plays MRA Sept. 22 at MRA.
“I think it was great to win against a rival as always, but we are in the first week in August,” Denson said. “We are taking it one day at a time and the goal is to continue to improve throughout the season and hopefully peak when it matters most.”
MRA had eight seniors who led the Lady Patriots to the historic second consecutive state championship last season. Those eight – outside hitter Selah Sandridge, setter Kiera Hariel, middle hitter-opposite Alyssa Dampier, middle hitter Lily Sistrunk, middle hitter Reese Roundtree, and defense specialists Lyla Cromwell, Madeline Morlier and Sophia Villani – finished with a 30-15 record.
MRA coach Ross Dorr has two players back from the first state title in 2024, 6-foot senior outside hitter and Southern Miss commitment Emerson Dorr, the coach’s daughter, and senior setter/opposite hitter Ella Eatherly. Other returning starters are sophomore outside hitter Gabi Strickland, and sophomore Libero Macy Gladden. New starters are junior opposite hitter Laila Fulcher, sophomore setter Lily Ford, 6-1 freshman middle blocker Lillian Strong and 5-11 eighth-grade middle blocker Ayanna Dampier, sister of Alyssa Dampier who graduated and is playing at Southern Miss this season.
Dorr knows this team will improve as the season goes along and his goal is to be in the state championship game in October.
“JA is always a tough battle physically as well as mentally for us and our youth and inexperience showed up tonight,” said MRA coach Ross Dorr, a former MRA, Southern Miss and Delta State basketball player who is in his sixth season as MRA’s head coach. “We know the areas we need to work on and will get back in the gym to continue the process of becoming the team we will need to be in October. Now, it’s on to the next game and the next lesson to learn. I try to show my young Lady Patriots that you can become better through triumphs as well as adversity. It’s very satisfying to watch it happen in real time.”
