It’s 2001 and Bayside Academy is the beast of AHSAA small-school volleyball.

The Admirals have won 10 previous state championships, seven under future Hall of Fame coach Ann Schilling with 11 straight appearances in the championship match of either Class 1A or Class 2A.

One of those championship wins came in 1999 when Bayside downed Geraldine for the Class 2A title. The Bulldogs reached the championship match against Bayside again in 2001, this time winning the title.

Current Geraldine coach Renee Bearden played on both those teams. She remembered the 2001 match, a 15-13, 11-15, 12-15, 15-12, 15-6 win for Geraldine. It marked the first and only title for Geraldine, but the match has taken on greater significance over the years.

It’s the last time Bayside lost an elimination match in the Elite Eight state championship tournament.

“I remember the excitement,” said Bearden who was named to the all-tournament team. “Here we are a little 2A team, there’s nothing special about us other than we just work hard and we want to win. We wanted to beat Bayside because they were the team to beat and when we did, we were beside ourselves. We didn’t know what to say or what to do. We were ecstatic.”

The AHSAA Elite Eight state championship tournament starts on Tuesday with both Geraldine and Bayside competing for titles, Geradline in Class 3A and Bayside in Class 6A.

In that 2001 match, Geraldine trailed Bayside 2-1, but won the final two sets.

“We had a group of girls that just dug in and refused to go out of that tournament without playing their hearts out,” said 2001 Geraldine coach Cristie Brothers, who also played at Geraldine and was the coach from 1997-2018 and now coaches at Snead State Community College. “They didn’t worry about last games, they didn’t worry about losing, they just played their heart out.

“One point at a time and that’s what we talked about every time out, play one point at a time. And they did that until we got into that fifth set and somewhere early in that fifth set, we started breaking away.”

Bayside coach Schilling also remembers the match.

“Yeah, I remember how it ended,” Schilling said. “The ball went between two players and it just ended. It was disappointing and for me, it was just getting to that next year to rectify that loss. 2002 couldn’t get there fast enough.”

Bayside has won 21 straight championships since, earning titles in Class 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A and 6A. The Admirals have won 66 straight Elite Eight state championship tournament matches during the record-setting, nation-best streak.

None of that had happened when Geraldine beat Bayside in 2001, but even then, Brothers sensed the importance.

“At the time, that was my fifth year of coaching, and Bayside had not been on a 20-plus year run, but I think it was huge then,” Brothers said “But now, after all of these state championships in a row in different classifications, I look back and I realize it was more than just one state championship.”

Always classy, Schilling congratulated Geraldine.

“As we finished that match and we were shaking hands, (Schilling) gave us all the credit,” Brothers said. “She said ‘man, y’all just played lights out.’ She stopped me and my brother, who was an assistant coach at the time, as we entered the civic complex to get ready for the championship on the next day. She just continued to give us credit, that the girls played amazing and she was so impressed. She was a class act.”

Bearden saw the match from the perspective as a player.

“Back then we were just happy to be going into the state finals and do something that our school had never done and win a state championship,” Bearden said. “Now, looking back on that as a coach, it’s crazy to be the team that prevented a state championship for them and it’s an honor.

“Even my teammates to this day, that’s something we still talk about and even with coach Cristie Brothers, we talk about it frequently, what it is to be that team.”

Schilling has since battled and beaten breast cancer in the past few years. Her desire is still fervent, but things are different.

“It’s like I told the kids the other day, it’s going to end someday and we’re going to all wake up and be OK,” Schilling said. “Just with what I’ve gone through and knowing what I know, in the end we do everything to glorify God. Everything’s going to be OK and I think that’s kind of where we are right now. We’re going to fight, we’re going to compete every single day, but in the end, we’re going to wake up and be OK.

“I think I see the big picture more than ever before after my battle.”