DAPHNE, Alabama — Going into this weekend’s South Super Regional in Montgomery, the 58-2 Lady Admirals of Bayside Academy won’t have any secret weapons, but anyone who has watched them play this year knows they have at least a couple of special ingredients.

Their Twin Peak pair of senior hitters/blockers Gabby Deshotel (6-0) and Virginia Pittman (6-3) seem to be peaking at the right time, along with their underclass teammates like junior setter Sydney Chandler and others for head coach Ann Schilling, who has led Bayside to 17 state titles and four runner-up finishes in her 25 years at the Admiral helm.

“I’ve coached a lot of good hitters here, but we usually had only one (at a time) with that much height and athleticism,” Schilling said. “Having two who are just tremendous athletes and have such great attitudes, great team-first attitudes, is really something special. I mean they compete with each other fiercely — they go against each other in practice all the time and they love to get the better of the match up — but they also push each other to give their all and lift each other up.

"They have become amazing leaders, co-leaders, out there. The girls respect them, trust them. And of course Syd is the one they rely on and in my opinion they have the best setter in the state between them in her and that allows them to be their best and it’s really showing this year.”

Chandler was the Alabama High School Athletic Association Most Valuable Player last year when the Lady Ads won their 10th-consecutive state championship.

“Virginia and Gabby consistently compliment each other on the court and Sydney takes advantage of that so well that it keeps the other team scrambling,” she added. “I think consistency and depth are two of our big strengths this year on offense and defense and our overall level of play has improved all year."

Both seniors learned to love the game from an early age. Pittman’s older sister, Reynolds, who played for Schilling and is now an assistant coach at Daphne High was a source of inspiration.

“When I was in the second grade, I would watch my sister play and so I kept hanging around the court and would chase balls for them at practice and even got to play on some practice teams so by middle school I was in love with it and then coach Schilling was encouraging me, too.”

Deshotel also had early exposure to the sport. The daughter of International Volleyball star Monique Adams — who was twice named a First Team All-America (1990-91) and led the LSU Tigers to NCAA prominence, led the McGill-Toolen Dirty Dozen to numerous state titles and played many years in the European professional circuit — Deshotel, at first, wanted to play professional basketball.

“Well, when I was little, I did say I wanted to be in the WNBA. Watching my mom play volleyball at that (pro) level was exciting, but I really didn’t get the real urge to play until we started playing it on teams at Christ The King in the sixth grade. And that’s when I fell in love with it and knew that volleyball would be my sport. But I still like basketball, too.”

The two seniors say they are close friends in spite of having almost opposite natures, especially on the court or in the locker room.

“Virginia is like the team mom,” Deshotel said. “She’s like the big sister always babying everybody if they’re just a little bit hurt and I’m like more of the tough love, ‘Get up. Be a man. Suck it up, you’re OK,’ type of sister. But we all love each. We’re just different.”

Pittman agreed, “We’ve always been like that and at first we didn’t even like each other, but after a while that (being different) made us even closer I think. We are always bouncing off each other on the court and encouraging each other and the team, too. It’s like a very special feeling like we’re the ones, we’re the leaders and we have to play like leaders whether it’s going great or not so great. ”

One area they don’t differ much is, superstition.

“I’m very superstitious,” Pittman said. “Nobody can hold the ball too long. And we always have to do the same hand shake.”

“I’m a little superstitious about our jerseys,” said Deshotel. “There’s one I hate and I don’t even like to think about wearing it again. I don’t like to look at it.”

One thing they agree on is their setter.

“Sydney knows us so well and I feel like we would definitely not be where we are if we didn’t have her,” Deshotel said.

Pittman said, “She just hustles, she doesn’t get down on herself or anybody. She just fixes it.”

With time winding down on their high-school careers, both feel sad but excited at the same time.

“I really love volleyball and I love Bayside,” said Pittman, who is headed to the University of Alabama to study nursing. “But something in me is saying, ‘It’s time to move on. Put the ball down and focus on school.' But I might play club (spring-league), we’ll see.”

Deshotel has accepted an offer to play at UAB (University of Alabama-Birmingham) next year, but she too has mixed feelings.

“It’s going to be sad for me,” she said. “I’ve decided to keep playing in college and looking forward to it but I know it means I’ll be saying good bye to so many people that I love. When I came here from Christ The King, I felt a little out of place. But everybody made me feel at home. So, this is like my family and going off, being the freshman again, in a new place is kind of uncomfortable to think about right now, but that’s life.”

Having her 6-foot-4-inch mom as an assistant coach and practice partner has also benefited the team, especially the front row.

"Having Mo to work with has been great for us," Pittman said. "At first it was intimidating when you see how hard she hits, but once you go up and get past that, it makes you get competitive."

Deshotel agreed it was helpful but not the most fun.

"At least I know I will probably not go up against anybody who hits that hard or harder. I think it has conditioned us to play against good big hitters."

Adams said there's more to the game than size and power. "I hope I taught them that there's more to volleyball than just going up and swinging as hard as you can. You have to make quick decisions. But you have to have an option before you can decide. So, I've tried to teach them how to hit around a big block and recognize an opening. It's a learning process, but I think this year they have really improved their tactics as well as the power game."

The one thing no one really likes to talk about is the phenomenal win streak standing at 10 which started when they were in the second grade.

“Well, in a way, we’re kind of use to it,” Pittman said. “We know it’s there. In years past, when there’s only been one senior it was like this big burden. We feel it too, but we feel confident. We still don’t like to talk about it. We like to deal with it on the court.”

Deshotel said as much.

“We really don’t talk about it. It’s just there. We don’t worry about it. But we know we have to play well to keep it going so we’ll just play our best and I think if we do that, we will keep it going.”

With other indispensable underclassmen players such as Jhalen Caffey, Morgan Dulaney and Madison Matthews as well as key backups such as Lauren Chastang, Ariel Dulaney, Harper Morrison and Rebecca Todd ready to rotate in — and barring injury —the odds look good to start a second championship decade.

Assuming this team goes all the way, advancing through the Super Regional and winning the 11th straight title while having defeated so many teams in larger classifications, again— the obvious question is: Is this the best team in the state overall and is it the best team Schilling has ever coached?

“It’s too soon to tell,” she said, again. “I’ll let you know in November.”