When the Caldwell volleyball team sat at 15-11 heading into district play, a return trip to San Marcos must've felt pretty far away.

Winning 16 of their next 17 matches, however, turned that trip into a reality as the Lady Hornets beat Mexia 18-25, 25-20, 25-15, 25-15 in the Class 3A Region III championship Saturday afternoon at Viking Gym.

Caldwell (31-12) will face either Monahans or Wylie in the state semifinals Friday.

It will be the second straight trip Caldwell has made the state tournament and the seventh in school history. The way this year's Lady Hornets turned things around, however, may make No. 7 the sweetest for head coach Jane Anne Giese.

"I know we've gone before, but this one is really special," said Giese, a former Caldwell player who went to state with the Lady Hornets in 1998 and '99. "This is such a special group of girls. It's the epitome of 'hard work pays off.' You've got to see them in the gym. They are working hard every day. I might chew their butts every now and then and break a few clipboards, but they work hard through it all."

Caldwell dropped Game 1 to Mexia after falling behind early. The Ladycats (33-12) went on a six-point run early to go up 10-5 and slowly gained a bigger advantage until they led 19-11. Kills by Caldwell seniors Melissa Cumby and Vantazia Jackson closed the gap to 19-15 before Mexia pulled away.

Caldwell struggled offensively as Mexia's Cori Speights and Kendle Brizendine peppered the Lady Hornets with kills. Cumby, in particular, had trouble getting into a rhythm, and it took a little "encouragement" from Giese to get her going.

"My attitude changed [after Game 1]," Cumby said. "[Giese] yelled at me, so I wanted to hit harder. We wanted to push through all of it, and we took that from the first game."

Cumby led Caldwell with 14 kills and had two digs. Fellow outside hitter LeeAnn Simpson had seven kills while middle blockers Sondra Flippin and Jackson combined for 14 kills. Both Ashlee Hollis and Callee Norman had more than five digs while Flippin, Jackson and Blair Brinkman combined for nine blocks.

The even spread of statistics has been a mark of Caldwell's squad this season.

"One of the things we talk about in practice is that if someone's not on that night, you have to make up for it somewhere else," Giese said. "They work so well as a unit, as a group, that they can keep each other up all the time."

On a senior-laden team, it was sophomore setter Allison Alford who earned the Region III tournament MVP. Alford showed her versatility in the championship with two kills, three digs, one block and 43 assists. Flippin and Cumby were also named to the all-tournament team.

The game was not without a few controversial plays. One in particular left the Ladycats in a tailspin.

Early in Game 3, Caldwell led 2-0 and had just dug out a Mexia hit. As Caldwell tried to get the ball under control, the Ladycats thought the Lady Hornets had hit the ball four times, so they stopped in their tracks. Alford, however, made a one-handed bump over the net that fell in along the right outside line.

The referees never blew a whistle for four hits and awarded Caldwell the point, which continued a 7-0 Caldwell run.

After that point, the momentum stayed solidly on the Lady Hornets' side as they won the final two games by 20 combined points.

"We weren't necessarily 100 percent, but we fought for every point," Giese said. "After we lost that first game, we were able to refocus. It was a complete attitude change. They decided as a group that they weren't going to go down.We have a lot of seniors this year, and they were able to calm the nerves a little bit. The best part is they always find their way."

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NOTES -- Other members of the Region III all-tournament team were Hali Turner of Carthage, Cori Speights and Kendle Brizendine of Mexia and Maeson Mondrik of Cameron. ... Caldwell's only loss after beginning district play was to Hutto in a playoff warmup game.