DAPHNE—The Dirty Dozen, ranked No. 5 in 6A state volleyball got a test Tuesday at Bayside Academy. The No. 1 ranked 3A Lady Admirals did not go quietly as McGill-Toolen Catholic had to do it the hard way and come back from a game-one loss.

Bayside took a strong lead in game one and held it for a 25-17 win. But McGill evened the score quickly with a 25-12 win, then ran away to a 20-10 lead in game three.

But Bayside did not throw in the towel. With Maggie Niemeyer serving, the Lady Ads rallied to tie and take the lead 21-20. McGill-Toolen coach Gretchen Boykin's time out, however cooled the run and the Dirty Dozen reenergized enough to take a 26-24 win and went on to take the match in game four 25-21.

"We should have won game three," said BA coach Ann Schilling. "But a team like that, they are not going to give it to us. They just worked a little harder at the end. We had a chance to win game three and four, but I'm proud of the kids. Several young kids stepped up tonight and you could tell they wanted it and that's a good thing. We're getting better. It was part of our plan to serve them aggressively and we did. This was a good atmosphere and it will be good for us down the road."

Schilling was especially pleased to see her hitters' stats more evenly distributed. Savannah Simmons who usually leads Bayside in kills led in blocks with 10 and added six kills while Niemeyer and Gabby Deshotel led in kills with nine each. "Last time we played McGill, they just sat on Savannah with their blockers and they are very good at sealing balls and their middles are real quick," Schilling said. "But tonight we were a lot more even with our attacks. Syd (Chandler) was (setting) able to go to more people and they were swinging well. We were able to hit some seams. We're getting more well rounded."

Rounding out the attack for BA in kills was Jhalen Caffey with six and Virginia Pittman with five. Both had three blocks. Niemeyer also had two blocks and eight digs and Simmons had 15 digs and three service aces. Chandler had 26 assists and libero GiGi Eyre led in defense with 17 digs. Carly Morgan led McGill with nine kills and six aces.

Bayside will host Choctaw County and T. R. Miller TuesdaY at 4:30p.m. in a 3A Area trimatch.