 Well, three teams from our viewing area punched their tickets to the state tournament this past section final Saturday. One of them, Pine River Backus. The winners from 5A flying under the radar all season long, but they're ready to make some noise at the X Thursday afternoon. Rewind to Saturday and winning the section championship and the Tigers are still taking away the moment they will never forget. I cannot put it into words. It was an amazing feeling. We were all jumping around and we got knocked over by our fans who stormed the court. You look back on the pictures and you can see our coaches hugging in the background. It's just looking back on it. It's really amazing. At the time it felt like a dream. The dream has come true with the roster without a single senior, but the growth of this young team over the course of the season has resulted in success. We've gotten contributions from a lot of kids during this run that a month ago you'd have said I was crazy but it's been great. A run that dates all the way back to a loss September 14 to Nevis and the team sitting with a 3-5 record but since then they've won 17 of their last 18 matches heading into the state tournament. We believe more and I think we're just getting tougher as a team and knowing that we can get through what we need to. Our energy level has just went up so much. I'm not even sure why it's like when your energy level goes up, your skill level, your mindset, everything, it's just increased so much. So win after win and seeing improvement week after week goes back to the team's motto. Be tough. I don't know, in our jerseys it says be tough and when you're struggling you just take a look there and you know where to put it. This team has struggled before with being able to stay in the game mentally but this year we have done a way better job and I think that's because Coach Hershey has pounded into our heads be tough, be tough no matter what next ball. He's turned their attention to the X and facing off with State Power Bethlehem Academy, the third seed in Classic. They're a great team so we have to for sure be ready for them also but yeah we have to play our best to be in it. It's the school that he's used to push us to become the team that we are today so getting the chance to play them is really exciting for us and we're really excited to be able to play our game against them and you know see if we can so Tigers are set to tip off Thursday afternoon at 3 p.m. at the X as mentioned their opponent Round 1 Bethlehem Academy, a power house volleyball program in Classic. If you've enjoyed this segment of Lakeland news please consider making a tax deductible contribution to Lakeland Public Television.