Briarcrest Christian honors Coach Carrie Yerty with 10th TSSAA volleyball state championship

Briarcrest Christian entered Thursday's Division II-AAA championship against Baylor with a singular goal: Win for Carrie.

Lady Saints coach Carrie Yerty has been battling colon cancer since 2017 and missed this season as the illness progressed, forcing the coaches and players to continue on without her.

Never playing a game without her on their mind, the Lady Saints dedicated each win on their road back to the state championship match to Yerty. The goal of winning it all for her was finally accomplished Thursday afternoon.

The Lady Saints capped off a near-perfect state tournament run with a 3-0 win over Baylor to win their 10th state championship and fourth since 2018.

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"We had to be intentional about everything we did this season," Lady Saints interim coach April Jauregui said. "There was a lot of heaviness on this team at the beginning of the year resulting in some real lows and I wasn't sure how this season was going to end up. We really had to come together as a group, focus on making our team a priority first and try to play with some fun even though there was a lot going on.

"I'm proud of how they responded. We peaked at the right time and I'm happy that they have this moment."

The severity of the situation could have negatively affected what was poised to be a great season for the Lady Saints as they tried to right the wrongs of last year's state runner-up finish to Knoxville Catholic.

Instead, the Lady Saints (34-6) relied on their core of nine seniors to keep them going.

Senior outside hitter and Ball State commitment Kendall Barnes said that it's been a rough year all around as Yerty hasn't been able to come to any of the team's practices or matches due to her health. Calling Yerty the team's 'missing piece', Barnes said that the group realized that they wouldn't be able to fill that hole and instead made it their mission to play for her.

That showed against Baylor (35-8) as the Lady Saints won a closely contested first set 25-19 to set the tone.

The Lady Saints came out clicking on all cylinders in the second set and took an early lead. Baylor closed the gap late but Briarcrest Christian closed the door and won the set 25-22.

Having already taken control of the match, the Lady Saints never let Baylor come within striking distance in the third set.

Down big already, Baylor attempted to spike the ball over the net only to have it go directly in the net securing the 25-14 set win for the Lady Saints.

"This is really just amazing," Barnes said. "It's really amazing to have the volleyball community that we have. For someone who's meant so much the volleyball like Coach C has, to show the love and appreciation we have for her means a lot. She's fighting and even though she wasn't with us physically today, it feels like she's here."

Reach Joe Spears at jspears2@gannett.com. Follow him on Instagram, TikTok and Twitter @joe_spears7.