HAGERSTOWN — For the ninth consecutive season, No.5 Calvary played for the Mason-Dixon Christian Conference championship.
However, for the second year in a row, the Eagles (17-8) came up a win short, falling to Grace 3-0 on Saturday at North Hagerstown High School.
Grace also swept Calvary in last year’s MDCC final.
Grace won the first set 25-19 and the next two 25-9.
Calvary was not at full strength as middle hitter Arabella DeValk missed the previous week with an injury, was cleared to play but wasn’t 100%.
Outside hitter Reagan Getz was injured during pregame warmups.
“Grace was going to be a tough match for us even under perfect circumstances, but losing our outside hitter minutes before the first serve and another player just coming back, our battle was just going to be that much harder,” Calvary head coach John Wall said.
Paula Ganoe recorded a double-double, leading the Eagles with 17 digs and 13 kills.
Madie Robinette finished with 13 digs, six assists and three kills.
Allie Maust recorded 14 digs and nine assists.
“We gave it everything we had,” Wall said. “In the first game we had the lead three different times. A timeout by Grace and a couple of ball handling errors on our part gave Grace the momentum to separate from us at the end of the game.”
Calvary will compete in the Maryland Christian School Tournament (MCST) beginning on Tuesday.
The Eagles earned the No. 1 seed based on record and strength of schedule.
Calvary hosts the winner of No. 8 Rockbridge Academy and No. 9 Takoma Academy on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.
“I am proud of our team and just the fact that we could get to the championship match says a lot about the type of athlete and character these girls have,” Wall said. “As always, we play all the big schools that we can. Our schedule has been difficult and packed with good opponents.”