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By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Publisher 

LIVINGSTON – Stepping to the service line with a 14-13 lead in a winner-take-all fifth set, Keith High School senior Janiyah King faced the pressure of trying to keep her team’s season alive.

After falling twice to R.C. Hatch in the regular season, the senior now had a chance to redeem both losses with one swing and send her team to not only the area tournament championship but super regionals a week later.

She did just that.

The senior served the ball perfectly over the net for an ace that capped off a five-set thriller with a 15-13 win for her team to complete a 3-2 victory and send her team to the postseason.

The hard-fought battle throughout saw Keith redeem a straight-set loss and a 3-1 loss from the regular season as Hatch won the two regular-season matchups by a combined 6-1.

With the top two teams from each area advancing to regionals, the Bears came out of a challenging five-team area featuring A.L. Johnson, Linden, R.C. Hatch and University Charter.

It also marked an upset of the Bobcats, who had been on a roll and were one of the better teams throughout the regular season, earning the two seed going into the area tournament.

Keith did go on to lose 3-0 (25-6, 25-5, 25-13) to tournament host University Charter in the title match following the exhausting five-set match, but the Bears’ season marches on to the Class 1A Super Regional tournament.