The Opp Lady Bobcats wanted to do something special this year, and they did just that on Thursday night at the Super Regional tournament in Montgomery by earning their first ever trip to next week’s state tournament.

Opp started the day off strong with a 3-0 sweep over Thomasville and then sealed a trip to Birmingham with 3-2 over SAKS.

“We’ve been in this situation before and we lost in game five to keep us out of the state tournament,” Opp head coach Bridgett Brantley said. “It’s not fun going home when that happens. This is a special group of girls. All year they have said that they wanted to make Opp history. Tonight, they did that.”

GAME ONE

OPP 25, SAKS 13

In the first game of the best-of-five match to decide who advances to the state tournament, the Lady Bobcats come out strong and rolled to a 25-13 victory.

Enley Carnley and Addie Jacobs came up big for the Lady Bobcats in the win.

GAME TWO

SAKS 25, OPP 22

SAKS got things going in the second game and evened the series a 1-1 with a 25-22 victory in game two.

Taylor Carnley and Jacobs started the game off with back-to-back kills to give the Lady Bobcats a 2-0 lead.

The Lady Bobcats trailed 20-15 at one point and then crawled back into the game with a couple of aces from Sara Kate Horn and a pair of blocks from Jacobs.

Opp trimmed the deficit to 23-22, but SAKS got the final two points for the win.

GAME THREE

OPP 25, SAKS 21

SAKS went up to start game three, but the Lady Bobcats battled back to pick up a 25-21 victory.

E. Carnley placed a perfect shot to put the Lady Bobcats up 5-4.

Karley Wilson wheeled off a pair of aces that had the Lady Bobcats up 11-6.

SAKS brought the Lady Bobcat lead down to one point at 19-18 before a big block from Jacobs helped the Opp surge to a 25-21 victory.

GAME FOUR

SAKS 25, OPP 19

In the fourth game of the series, both teams battled back-and-forth before SAKS pulled away for a 25-19 victory to force game five.

E. Carnley had a big game for the Lady Bobcats, but Opp was unable to pull out the win.

GAME FIVE

OPP 16, SAKS 14

The Lady Bobcats battled back in game five to pick up a 16-4 victory to clinch a spot in the state tournament.

Trinity Teague had a big block for the Lady Bobcats to trim the SAKS’ lead down to 6-5.

SAKS then went on a run and went up 12-7 and Opp called a timeout to talk things over.

“I just told them that this is do-or-die time,” Brantley said. “They dug in and played great after that.”

The Lady Bobcats then went on run and tied the game at 14-14.

Opp then picked up the next to points to earn the 16-14 victory.

“They played amazing all day,” Brantley said. “They played with heart and they wanted this more than anything and they got it. My seniors weren’t done. We practice being down. We never practice at 0-0 we always practice like we are down by 10. We try to train our mind to come back, and sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn’t. This is one of those times that it payed off. They decided that they weren’t done and when they set their mind to something, they do it.”

GAME ONE

OPP 25,

THOMASVILLE 13

In the first game of the day, the Lady Bobcats came out strong and surged to a 25-13 victory.

Jacobs, E. Carnley and Madi Henley had strong games to help push the Lady Bobcats to victory.

GAME TWO

OPP 25,

THOMASVILLE 19

The Lady Bobcats started strong again and pulled off a 25-19 victory.

Jacobs got things rolling with a block and a kill and Henley followed with a kill to put the Lady Bobcats up 5-1.

Opp continued to pour it on as they built a 9-1 lead.

Thomasville battled back into the game, but Opp was able to hold on for a 25-19 win.

GAME THREE

OPP 25,

THOMASVILLE 20

The Lady Bobcats clinched the opening series with a 25-20 victory in game three.

Thomasville got the first point of the game, but the Lady Bobcats surged back to go up 6-2.

Jacobs had a big kill that put the Lady Bobcats up 13-6.

The Lady Bobcats then held off Thomasville on their way to picking up a 25-20 victory.

Opp plays tomorrow in the single elimination tournament to determine state seedings at 12:30 p.m.