By Justin Fedich | The Selma Times-Journal

The Morgan Academy Senators didn’t play perfect in their home gym, but they managed to make plays against a team that hasn’t lost a match all season.

Morgan (5-8) fell to Kingwood Christian (15-0) Thursday 25-8, 25-7, 25-11. The Senators were coming off three straight wins after a 2-7 start to the season, but head coach Caroline Averitt isn’t discouraged by Thursday’s loss to the Lions.

“Anytime you play a team that’s got D-1 quality athletes on it, it always helps you,” Averitt said.

Morgan fought hard, especially early in sets. Kingwood Christian came out swinging in the first set, getting off to an early 6-1 lead. Serving from Cassidy Lawrence brought Morgan back to within one point at 7-6.

Averitt said Lawrence has been one of the players who has shown massive improvement throughout the season.

“Her serves are great. They’re hard, they’re low. They’re hard to return. She’s really stepped up a lot and she’s shown a lot of leadership on the floor too,” Averitt said.

Despite a few strong plays from Jeni Redd at the net, the Senators were unable to keep it close the rest of the first set as Morgan fell 25-8.

The second set followed a similar narrative. Morgan trailed 11-4 early on, and couldn’t string together enough points against the undefeated Lions to mount a comeback.

“We didn’t play our game tonight,” Averitt said. “We were intimidated by the big 15-0.”

A block by Tindall Albritton late in the set gave Morgan a temporary boost of energy, but the Senators ultimately fell in the second set 25-7.

Morgan was trailing 9-3 in the third set, when Lawrence won four straight points off her serve to narrow the deficit to two at 9-7. Kingwood Christian pulled away to put away the set, but not before McKenzie Williams added a block in the penultimate point.

“McKenzie Williams had several blocks,” Averitt said. “She had several big kills, very timely kills.”

Kingwood took the final set 25-11. While Averitt thought her team could have played better, she is excited about the direction her team is headed.

“We’re okay. We just lost to a giant. We might be David, but we’re still swinging. We’re going to be fine,” Averitt said.

Averitt said she has seen her team grow and improve all season. She doesn’t expect that to change with Thursday’s loss.

“We’ve come a long way to get where we are, and we refuse to go backwards,” Averitt said. “We’re not going backwards.”

The Lions may have stopped Morgan’s longest winning streak of the season, but Averitt fully expects another winning streak to start up next week.

“We’re going to play Lowndes next week. We’re going to beat them in three sets, and then we’re going to come back and we’re going to have our senior night and we’re going to beat them in three sets here at home,” Averitt said.

Morgan hosts Lowndes Academy Monday at 4 p.m.