Knights are crowned in District 1-A volleyball tourney (PHOTO GALLERY, VIDEO)

NICEVILLE — The Rocky Bayou Christian volleyball team could sense that Lisa Eaves had a severe case of the pre-game jitters.

So the Knights approached their coach, surrounded her and said a prayer to soothe her nerves Thursday before the District 1-A tournament finals.

On top of that gesture, Rocky Bayou made sure to have a calming affect with its play as the top-seeded Knights cruised to the program’s second district championship with a 25-15, 25-13, 25-14 victory over No. 2 seed Central.

Click here to view a Photo Gallery of the district final.

“The team is just awesome,” said an ecstatic Kathryn Rogers, who had a match-high six kills.

The victory ensured that Rocky Bayou (14-9) will host its regional quarterfinal match while Central (9-14) must hit the road. It also gave the Knights an 8-0 record this season against district opponents. Rocky Bayou only dropped one set versus league competition this year, and the Knights won in straight sets in both matches of the district tournament, never allowing more than 19 points along the way.

As was the case in Rocky Bayou’s semifinals win over Bethlehem, the tourney host Knights asserted themselves at the service line and gobbled up a slew of aces. They racked up 20 in the finals and registered 41 for the tournament.

“The serving, I think that was the most important thing tonight,” said Haley Johnson, who tallied a match-high eight aces. “Usually everybody’s missing their serves, but we were really on tonight.”

That started with Johnson. She had a pair of aces during a 10-3 run to open the match, Monica Johnson added a couple as the Knights led 17-10 and Haley Johnson returned to blast two more during a set-clinching 7-0 burst.

The 5-0 run that broke a tie and gave Rocky Bayou a 12-7 lead in the second game was highlighted by two Haley Johnson aces, and Rogers fired four straight before a thunderous kill by Monica Johnson sealed the set.

The third set saw a deluge of aces by Monica Johnson as Rocky Bayou led 16-6. Haley Johnson put the finishing touch on the ace onslaught with a pair during the Knights’ match-sealing 6-0 run.

And with that, Rocky Bayou could start thinking about regionals.

“I think as long as we stay together as a team and encourage each other and really focus on the fundamentals, we’ll do just fine,” Rogers said.