McGill-Toolen had a simple motto for this year’s edition of the Dirty Dozen.

“Joy.”

Whether basking in victory or wallowing in defeat, the McGill-Toolen volleyball team never took a set for granted and chose positive affirmation over any other motivator.

It worked.

The top-ranked Dirty Dozen withstood tying run after another to power a 3-1 victory over No. 4 Bob Jones, 25-18, 25-13, 20-25 and 25-18, in the 2022 AHSAA Class 7A title match Thursday at Birmingham’s Bill Harris Arena.

“I am so proud of these girls, sitting up here and out there,” McGill-Toolen coach Kate Wood said. “Thankful for all of them. That’s all I got.”

McGill-Toolen (51-8) captures its 22nd state title in program history and the first since back-to-back titles in 2017-2018.

Anna Grace Sparks took home tournament MVP honors in leading the Dirty Dozen with 14 kills, 12 digs and 3 aces in the title match.

“The feeling is rewarding because this program has a huge legacy,” Sparks said. “From all the girls that we saw when we were younger, looking up to them and seeing them win and compete and execute all these core values, it’s something I always wanted to be a part of and live out to the full max.

Giving up the third set, the Dirty Dozen went to work in the fourth after battling to an early 6-all tie. McGill-Toolen fell behind 17-13 on an 11-4 run by the Patriots but closed out the match with a 12-1 run to earn the program its 22nd state title.

“We had scouted a little bit and knew how we wanted to line up,” Wood said. “We didn’t lineup the same as we had throughout this tournament, hoping to get the matchups we wanted. That proved beneficial in the first two sets, we lost a little mojo in the third set and had to go away from it.”

McGill-Toolen went down 7-2 to open the first set but tied the game at 8-all on the back of a 6-1 run. Following a timeout, the Dirty Dozen expanded the lead to 19-14 before closing out the frame with a 25-18 win. The second frame was a breeze for the Dirty Dozen, building a 12-10 lead at the midway point and ending the set with a 13-3 run to go up 2-0 in the match.

Staring down a 2-0 deficit, Bob Jones put up an honest fight in the third frame to take a 25-20 set victory after breaking an 8-all tie. The Patriots took a 14-12 lead but McGill-Toolen tied the game at 19-all before Bob Jones clamped down to close out the set with a 6-1 run.

“It’s a great day for Bob Jones,” Patriots first-year coach Jenny Jarrett said. “These girls had an amazing season with my first year at Bob Jones. A lot of young kids, only two seniors, but we had an amazing season. They’re hurt right now but later they’ll realize what they did.”

Stat sheet: Paris McQuirter also led the Dirty Dozen with 14 kills, followed by Chelsea Daffin with 9 kills, adding 5 digs. Riley Carter finished with 7 kills, 3 digs and a block, Mamie Fromdahl with 20 assists and 8 digs, and Laura Boykin with 18 assists, 11 digs and 2 aces. Juliet Galla had 25 digs and 5 assists, and Grace Petro had 16 digs and 2 aces.

For the Patriots, Kennedy Vaugh led the way with 13 kills, followed by Rachel Mecklenburg and Ezra Tyrrell, both of whom had 8 kills and 2 digs each, the former adding 3 aces. Anabelle Arnold and Riley Lovell had 4 kills each, Lovell adding 31 assists and 21 digs. Meg Jarrett finished with 24 digs, Kali Beigh with 12 digs, and Abby Harbin with 11 digs.

All-Tournament Team: Joining Sparks (MVP) on the All-Tournament team were teammates Boykin and McQuirter, along with Bob Jones’ Jarrett, Lovell and Vaughn.