MADISON – Loyal to their team mantra, “We Believe in Us,” the Madison Volleyball Club 121 team won the Southern Regional Volleyball Championship in Atlanta on April 23.

The regional win topped a thrilling season for the young team, with one first-place finish, two finishes in second place and qualifying for semi-finals of a 13U tournament, according to coaches Tynesha Malone and Keyana Malone.

The Malone sisters now have led the MVC team to this regional championship for two consecutive years.

“When we first started the season, we knew we had a good group of girls but weren’t sure how good our chances of winning regionals would be. We didn’t have the experience we had last year,” Tynesha said. “However, we always lead the girls to believe they could do it if they worked hard and believed in themselves.”

Nothing this season came easy, the Malones said. MVC won their first tournament, earned second place in the NASA Bash and played well in three other contests. 

Entering semi-finals at Southern Regional, they realized their opponents were ranked number one in the tournament.

After the second set, Tynesha told Keyana they had “to build the team up if we were going have a chance at winning the third set.” Down 7-11, MVC tied at 13-13. Then, the opponent scored. “Somehow, we got the ball back and finished 16-14. We were all overwhelmed with excitement.”

In the championship game, MVC was lagging behind but pulled off a 25-23 win. They defeated Cobb Atlanta, the same team they conquered in the 2016 finals. “The girls played with so much heart. Several times, they could have easily thrown in the towel, but they didn’t,” Tynesha said.

Tynesha Malone and Keyana Malone won numerous volleyball honors at Muscle Shoals High School. The sisters both have full-time jobs on Redstone Arsenal.

They started volunteer coaching at Hazel Green High School with April Marsh in 2007. They moved with Marsh for her head coaching job at Bob Jones High School and have been assistant volleyball coaches since 2009.

Marsh and Savannah Demeester started MVC in 2013, and the Malones starting coaching 12U girls.

“We enjoy being around the game of volleyball. We love making a difference in the lives of the girls,” Tynesha said.