SELMA — No. 1-seeded Morgan Academy returns to the state volleyball tournament Saturday for the third straight year hoping to beat Kingwood for the third straight time this year to advance to the title game.

Morgan takes on Kingwood at 10 a.m. Saturday at Faulkner University in Montgomery in the Class AA semifinals.

The first winner meets the winner of Clarke Prep and Lee-Scott in the 1 p.m. championship.

Kingwood will be the No. 2 seed this year, having beaten Morgan last year as the No. 1 seed. The Senators were the second seed last year.

“We played (Kingwood) two times in the same week this year,” Morgan coach Jennifer Moore said Thursday. “We beat them there on Tuesday in three games, then we played a close five-set match on Thursday.”

So the Senators (27-3) know what to expect.

“The girls are excited; they want the title,” Moore said. “Kingwood has a really good middle, and they are tricky. They will try to pick apart the defense.”

And they know what to do.

“We have the ability; we have to do it,” Moore said. “We know it’s going to be a battle. We’ll have to fight.”

Moore hopes three will be a magic number.

“Beating a team for the third time is always the hardest,” she said. “There’s no doubt in my mind that they can do it.”

Morgan junior Mary Peyton Zimmerman suffered a slight ankle injury during Sunday’s practice, but Moore said she expects her to be ready for Saturday’s match.