We Speak Volleyball

Marist Beats Blessed Trinity 3-1 to Claim the Class 5A State Championship

Published

1 hour ago

November 2, 2026

The Marist volleyball team with the state trophy at LakePoint.

Photo courtesy of Marist School Athletics.

Marist closed a dominant season the way it played all fall, on top. The War Eagles beat Blessed Trinity 3-1 on Saturday afternoon at LakePoint Sports Complex in Cartersville to win the GHSA Class 5A state championship, their second state title in two years.

Marist, the top seed out of Region 6, finished the season 40-3 and carried a 30 match winning streak into the final. The War Eagles won 93 sets and lost only 10 all season, and they went unbeaten in region play. On Saturday they made sure the streak ended with a trophy, holding off a Blessed Trinity team that pushed the championship match into a fourth set before Marist closed it out.

The final paired the two best teams in the class, and both arrived the hard way. Marist swept North Oconee in the semifinals on Wednesday. Blessed Trinity survived a five set semifinal against Cartersville the same day, rallying from two sets to one down to reach the title match with a 44-8 record.

The championship is Marist’s second in a row. The War Eagles won the Class 4A state title in 2025 before moving up to Class 5A this season, and the school’s athletics account summed up the weekend in one word, back to back. Saturday’s win also kept Marist perfect in its biggest moments this fall, capping a postseason run that never saw the War Eagles pushed to a fifth set.

For Blessed Trinity, the loss ended a 44-9 season and a strong postseason run. The Titans finished as the Class 5A state runners up, falling to the one team in Georgia that never lost its grip on the top of the class all season long.

We Speak Volleyball

Gordon Lee Outlasts Savannah Arts Academy in Five Set Semifinal

Published

4 seconds ago

November 2, 2026

We Speak Media

Gordon Lee volleyball players celebrate on the court in front of the home crowd.

Photo courtesy of Gordon Lee Athletics.

Gordon Lee is going back to the state final. The Trojans beat Savannah Arts Academy 3-2 on Tuesday in the GHSA Class A/AA state semifinals at LakePoint Sports Champions Center in Cartersville.

Gordon Lee controlled the start, winning the first two sets by matching 25-19 scores. Savannah Arts refused to fold. The Panthers took the third set 25-16 and the fourth set 25-18 to even the match and force a deciding fifth set. Gordon Lee steadied itself there and closed the match out 15-9.

The win sent Gordon Lee to the Class A/AA championship match against Bremen on Thursday afternoon. The Trojans entered the semifinal at 42-3. Their road through the bracket included straight set wins over Drew Charter and Thomasville, followed by a sweep of Oglethorpe County in the quarterfinals.

For Savannah Arts, the loss ended another deep October run. The Panthers finished the season 29-15 and reached the state semifinals for the fourth straight year, a streak that includes a state runner up finish in 2024. Savannah Arts had won its quarterfinal at Armuchee 3-1 to set up the semifinal meeting.

The semifinal was part of a full week of GHSA final four matches at LakePoint, where every classification settled its finalists on Tuesday and Wednesday.

No individual stat lines were reported for the semifinal. What the match produced was a finalist. Gordon Lee survived the longest night of its postseason and earned the right to play for a state championship. Savannah Arts, a Savannah program that has become a fixture in the final four, went home one win short of the final after pushing the Trojans to the very end.