Our Lady Academy wins 15th state title, first under Emily Meyers Corley
Like father, like daughter.
Our Lady Academy athletic director and third-year volleyball coach Emily Meyers Corley has added to her family’s legacy and the Crescent volleyball program’s history with a 3A state title.
Her father, Mike Meyers, retired in 2020 after 20 seasons and 14 state championships. Three years later, Emily Corley brought home OLA title No. 15 after her team dispatched Alcorn Central in three sets this past Friday.
“Obviously it’s a great feeling,” Corley told the Sun Herald. “When I took over, we lost in South State and then last year we went to the state championship and lost. We’ve been so close for my first years of coaching so it was great to finally finish it off. We have a great group of girls who work really hard. They made it easy to enjoy the season... it was a good group to win with.”
The win was made extra sweet by the fact the Crescents had to take down the same team that swept them in the final round last season. According to Corley, “We had some redemption in our blood and we wanted to get back at them.”
And get back OLA did. Senior Anna Laura Williford was named MVP of the match with her 23 kills. She, along with assist machine Avery Matheson, were the senior leaders who helped lead the Crescents through their 30-win season.
“(Williford) had a great day, she was steady all over the court,” Corley said. “She came out ready to play... she had a great last game... Our seniors have been their for a while and they’re great leaders. They had a huge impact on the season so losing them will be tough.”
Fortuitously enough, the program is fairly young. Numerous underclassmen played key roles on the squad this season. One of them. Myah Favre, led the team in kills as a freshman.
In her first season on the roster, Favre had over 500 kills and a strong .441 hitting percentage to compliment Williford’s 496 kills.
“Myah is the most excited person to be in the gym all the time,” Corley said. “We have to force her out of the gym most of the time. She loves to be on the court, she wants every ball. She’s ready to hammer the ball whenever it comes to her. She just has a love for the game that’s impressive to be around. She brings joy to the court all the time.”
Corley has a bevy of juniors and sophomores, such as defensive talents Kinsley Stegall and Ava Alonso, who have already seen just about everything. Corley hopes the mix of youth and experience will lead to continued success for the proud program.
“We do have some younger girls that have now been in some situations where they lost in South State, they lost in the state championship and now they’ve won,” Corley said. “They’ve seen different sides of the game. Hopefully that will help us next year when we’re ready to start the season and make it back to the state championship, hopefully.”
South Mississippi saw three other programs reach the finals, with Long Beach, Resurrection and Pass Christian all finishing the season as runner-ups for their classifications.
