NEW ALBANY, Ind. (WHAS11) -- There is a large empty spot in a trophy case at Christian Academy of Indiana. It's the perfect size for a state championship trophy.
This weekend, for the first time in school history, the Lady Warriors volleyball team will take the state title stage on hoping to bring back some hardware for that very spot.
"Ever since I was a freshman our goal has always been make it to state," said senior Krista Boesing. "Finally, after all those years of trying and working hard every season, for months, that moment finally came."
After a tough loss last year in the state semifinal game, the then juniors, now seniors, got together and adamantly decided they were going to be leaders and make sure that kind of loss didn't happen this year.
"With that bitter taste in our mouths we didn't want to lose again," said Boesing. "We were determined not to."
It wasn't just the seniors. Everyone rallied around that loss from the season before, including some newcomers who wanted to give their seniors the spotlight.
"I was super excited for the seniors," said freshman Alli Stumler. "It was for them. Just giving the glory to God and I don't know playing hard and just giving all we had for them to make this special moment for them."
This year the Lady Warriors boast a 33-4 record heading into the big game on Saturday. Now, they are suddenly faced with an unexpected challenge: having to come back down to earth to win one more time.
"It's really not over and we do have another match we need to push through," Boesing said. "Just this whole week has been refocusing and getting excited for this match and getting ready."
The girls know it won't be easy as they square off against the number one ranked team in 1A Indiana volleyball: Wes-Del.
"They are a very solid team," said CAI head coach Walter Pauly. "We expect it to be a dog fight, and we're going to come out swinging."
"They have a big outside hitter," explained Stumler. "So we're going run some plays on that to get away from that hitter so hopefully we can put the ball down. And just be loud communication wise."
Still, no matter what happens, these girls know they have fought hard and made school history.
"When we got together at the beginning of the season as seniors and we decided how do we want to leave our mark and how do we want to make an impact on the rest of our team, we decided we want to lead them well and lead them to a state victory," said Boesing with a smile.
The girls will head out Friday, Nov. 7 at 9 a.m. with a big send off from the school. The mayor of New Albany has approved a police and fire escort for the teams' buses. Christian Academy of Indiana wants anyone and everyone in the New Albany or Southern Indiana area to come out and support the girls. The caravan will leave from the Christian Academy of Indiana campus in New Albany.
