Cartersville volleyball reaches third straight Final Four
October 25, 2026
Scott Barkley / CanesAthletic.com
As they have throughout the season, Cartersville High’s volleyball team looked to be cruising against Jefferson on Saturday. The Lady Canes defeated the Dragons, 25-15, in the first set and built momentum early in the second with a 5-2 lead.
Jefferson went on an 11-1 run, though, taking a 13-7 lead and energizing their cheering section.
A kill by Blakely Morris, though, set by Brooke Belarmino, gave the ball to CHS, with Morris up to serve. The junior went on to earn three serve points, closing the difference to 13-10.
Cartersville kept chipping away, finally tying the set at 18 when Amara Ejieke snuck an ace into the right back corner. She repeated the effort four serves later, making it 22-18 as her team seized momentum on the way to a 25-20 win.
The Lady Canes completed the sweep with a 25-15 third-set win.
Cartersville (37-5) will face Blessed Trinity (43-8) in the semifinals on Wednesday, Oct. 28, at the LakePoint Sports Champions Center in Emerson at 4 p.m. The Lady Canes defeated the Titans 2-0 in the Storm Center on Sept. 15.
“Kudos to Jefferson,” said Canes head coach Kyle Lundberg. “They remind me of us two years ago when we played for the state title. They’re young. They’ve won some where they were down 0-2. They’ve played a lot of 3-2 games. I think our experience gave us an edge today and allowed us to come out and play when we did.”
Lundberg accepted the Cartersville job, his first head coaching position, three years ago and now has the distinction of leading the program to the Final Four every season.
“Our girls’ experience was the difference, I think,” he said. “They’ve been there and done that. They know how to regroup, whether I call a timeout or not. The pressure doesn’t faze them.”
Lundberg pointed to the play of Holly Dufrene and Morris, paired with that of outside hitters like Ejieke and Adelynn England, as crucial to the win.
“Both of our outsides have played well all season, and that was the case today,” he said. “But we knew we had to get our middles (Dufrene and Morris) involved early. They were ready for the stage and stepped up.”
Morris led Cartersville with 11 kills, followed by Ejieke’s 10. Dufrene and England had four each, while Sammie Camper had three.
“We try to not oversimplify things, and just play calm,” said Morris. “Amara is definitely a big help. All of our seniors trust each other and trust the rest of us to do our job. We don’t have to worry about each other and have confidence in each other.”
“We kept telling each other to stay calm,” said defensive specialist and outside hitter Adelynn England, who led with three aces. “We did drills this week to prepare us for if we get behind in the score and have to fight out of that hole. Those really prepared us and helped us stay together and level-headed.”
Kenzie Wilkie led with 10 digs. Belarmino had 5 digs and 16 assists, while Emma Wall had eight assists. Ejieke finished with five digs.
Wilkie’s two aces were enough to become the school’s career leader in that category, as one dropped in the third set that made the score 16-8.
“I felt we were a little flat [in the first two playoff games],” said Wilkie, who passed 1,800 digs in the second-round win over Druid Hills. “We knew in this game we needed to come out and push the tempo. We knew it was going to be a hard game, but we pushed each other and leaned on each other a lot.”
Adelynn England joined the other seniors, Wilkie, Dufrene, and Ejieke, in playing her final match in the Storm Center.
“It’s super-special,” she said of the legacy established during her time there. “It’s definitely not a one-man game, for sure. We all fight together. This senior class has been playing together for a long time, since we were in middle school, and we’ve kept the team chemistry going through being friends and teammates on and off the court. It’s just very special to know we’ve fought for something and left it behind for others.”
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