Following a regular season where they only won three matches including one region match, the Escambia Academy Lady Cougars went on a hot streak to finish second in their region tournament earlier this week.

With the second-place finish, the Lady Cougars play in the AISA state tournament at Faulkner University in Montgomery today.

At the tournament, the Lady Cougars will be seeded No. 4 in the four-team tournament.

To reach the state tournament, the Lady Cougars had to go through a murderers row of teams in the region tournament.

At the region tournament, there were seven teams with the Lady Cougars coming as the No. 7-seed.

Lady Cougars head coach Chad Weaver said before the team went to the tournament he spoke about the season starting over.

“I met with them before we left and I told them everything started over now,” Weaver said.

To open the tournament, the No. 1-seeded Clarke Prep received a bye, so the Lady Cougars faced No. 2 Marengo Academy.

In a tough match, the Lady Cougars were able to secure a victory defeating the Lady Longhorns 3-2.

Following that victory, the Lady cougars took on the No. 3-seeded Lowndes Academy.

“Lowndes had skunked us both times we played them this season,” Weaver said. “We got them back though and skunked them at the tournament.”

In the best-of-five match, the Lady Cougars walked all over Lowndes sweeping them in three games.

After defeating Lowndes, EA advanced to the championship game against Clarke Prep where they met their first defeat.

The Lady Cougars were able to pull off one game winning 26-24, but were defeated in the other three games losing 25-19, 25-20 and 25-21 to the Lady Gators.

Now, the Lady Cougars advance to the state tournament where they hope to win a championship.

Weaver said he wanted to recognize his seniors for all of their hard work.

“Thanks to all of my seniors for this season,” he said. “They welcomed me with open arms and they all did a great job. Amber Huskey, Taylor Helton, Tori Rodriguez and Samantha Lee all played great for me this season.”

Weaver also gave recognition to his junior varsity squad that only lost one match.

“Our junior varsity did a tremendous job this season,” he said. “They only lost one match and then went on to win 16 straight. Each of those girls played really well.”