Simon collapsed to the ground in joy, followed by Sellman immediately sliding in next to her partner for an embrace when the ball hit the ground to complete a four-set victory (21-25, 25-16, 25-10, 25-20) over Bishop O’Connell on Sunday at Catholic University.

“We knew from the beginning of the season that it was going to end that way,” Simon said of the final play.

“As we were getting close, I was like, ‘This is going to end with a Jaylyn-to-Emerson set,’ ” Holy Cross Coach Dave Geiser said.

Holy Cross (29-0) rode the performance of Sellman, the reigning All-Met Player of the Year. It was the Tartans’ first WCAC title since 2017 even though they had been in every championship game since then.

The story of Holy Cross’s season begins and ends with Sellman, a 6-foot-4 Ohio State commit and captain of the U.S. under-19 national team over the summer. Sunday was no different as she racked up kills and aces.

“Emerson Sellman is from another planet, basically,” Geiser said.

She was not the only star performer for the Tartans. Junior Sarah Jeremias stands nearly five inches shorter than Sellman but was just as critical in dominating the top of the net, an advantage the Knights felt they had heading into the final.

“She shows up and shows out in big games,” Sellman said.

Holy Cross swept three sets against Bishop O’Connell (29-7) early in the season, but Knights Coach Mehdi El Alaoui felt his team did not play like itself in that outing. After all, the Knights had defeated the Tartans in the 2022 championship game in a three-game sweep and held a height advantage over everyone else in the conference.

And after a first set Sunday that went in O’Connell’s favor, the Knights appeared to have a shot against the area’s top team. Holy Cross didn’t panic.

“I think we were still feeling good even after we lost the first set,” Geiser said. “We played them roughly even, not at our best, so we just needed to come out and play our best.”

That’s what they did. The Tartans never looked discouraged and rattled off a 7-1 run in the middle of the second set. From there, it was utter dominance as Sellman and Jeremias consistently landed powerful strikes.

The Holy Cross student section rushed the floor, and Sellman was the first to emerge, telling her teammates they needed to shake hands with the Knights.

After that, she raised the trophy that had evaded her, a perfect season complete.