Bishop Seabury Academy player Reilly Malone (10) celebrates a point with her teammates during the first set against Kansas City East Christian Academy on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2014 at Bishop Seabury Academy. Nick Krug/Journal-World Photo

Bishop Seabury Academy player Reilly Malone (10) celebrates a point with her teammates during the first set against Kansas City East Christian Academy on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2014 at Bishop Seabury Academy. Nick Krug/Journal-World Photo

Veritas Christian Academy player Allie Swisher spikes the ball over the net against Kansas City East Christian Academy players Jacque Calvert (2) and Rachel Sasse (10) on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2014 at Bishop Seabury Academy. Nick Krug/Journal-World Photo

Veritas Christian Academy player Alyssa Krestan sends the ball toward Kansas City East Christian Academy player Erica Carlberg on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2014 at Bishop Seabury Academy. Nick Krug/Journal-World Photo

Late in the third set of a rivalry volleyball match Tuesday between Bishop Seabury and Veritas Christian, Seabury junior Taylor Hodge knew she and her teammates needed to dig deep in order to defeat the Eagles.

Hodge did just that, capping off the Seahawks’ 25-15, 13-25, 25-19 victory over the Eagles with her 14th kill of the night and rounding out a historic night for Seabury in its home gym.

“This is the first time in seven years that we have ever beaten Veritas, so I think I’m going to cry,” Hodge said.

Hodge was second on the team in kills to senior Reilly Malone’s 17. Malone, Hodge and Regan Zaremba rejoiced together after the win and reflected on what it meant for the program.

“I’m in shock right now,” Malone said. “I’ve been playing volleyball here since eighth grade, and we finally beat our rivals.”

The loss for Veritas was a tough one to swallow, but senior Lacey Billings said she was proud of how the Eagles bounced back after dropping the first set.

“We just decided that we had nothing to lose,” Billings said. “We just had to play our hearts out no matter what happened.”

Billings and junior Allie Fischer led the attack for Veritas. Fischer paced the Eagles with 10 kills against Seabury, but playing without sophomore Brienne Billings was something Veritas could not overcome. One of the Eagles’ go-to players this season, Brienne Billings missed the match due to an elbow injury.

“She was one of our main hitters, so it was rough losing her,” Lacey said of her younger sister. “But I think without her we fought really hard.”

The Eagles soared past the Seahawks in the second set and carried momentum into the third, taking a 9-7 advantage. Veritas and Seabury battled back and forth in the middle of the set until the Seahawks reeled off four straight points to take a 21-16 lead.

“We did have a very good first set, and one of the things coach (Taylor) Manning and I are enforcing at practice is, once you get a two- or three-point lead, you can’t sit back on your heals and say, ‘Oh, that’s good enough,'” Seabury head coach Christina Leuty said. “You need to keep pushing and not play back-and-forth volleyball. We kind of did that in that second set a little bit, but we rebounded well in the third and took advantage of some errors on their part, and Taylor Hodge hit very well on those last couple of points.”

Veritas, Seabury fall to KCECA

The rivalry matchup was the second game of the night for both the Eagles and Seahawks, and Kansas City East Christian Academy might have taken advantage of being overlooked a bit.

The Eagles were swept in straight sets, 25-13, 25-7, and the Seahawks fell in three, 25-22, 18-25, 25-22.

Players from both Seabury and Veritas, as well as Leuty and Eagles coach Kyle Billings, admitted the concentration for both teams wasn’t on KCECA.

“I think we played well against East, but knowing Veritas is that next match, I think that their mind is focused there,” Leuty said. “That’s kind of what they’ve been talking about all week is this Veritas match, especially after we played them at the McLouth Tournament and lost. They were ready for that rematch.”