Wrestling Session Sparks Lady 'Canes To Volleyball Win

East Hamilton Aggressive In 3-0 Victory Over Bradley

  • Thursday, September 3, 2015
  • Larry Fleming
East Hamilton volleyball standout Emma Lenoir (4) powers a kill between Bradley Central defenders Monica Johnson (14) and Missy Abbott (22) during their District 5-AAA match on Thursday.
East Hamilton volleyball standout Emma Lenoir (4) powers a kill between Bradley Central defenders Monica Johnson (14) and Missy Abbott (22) during their District 5-AAA match on Thursday.
photo by Dennis Norwood

All season long, East Hamilton volleyball coach Kristy Lenoir has been less than pleased with her team’s lack of emotion on the court.

So, to change that Lenoir spent her allotted practice time putting the Lady Hurricanes through one-on-one wrestling matches.

Yep, wrestling.

“I’ve never had a practice like that one,” Lenoir said Thursday. “We’ve lacked emotion and a desire to win and I knew we had to do something to get some nastiness, some meanness and desire on the court.”

The unusual path to finding a solution apparently worked.

East Hamilton played inspired volleyball in sweeping visiting Bradley Central, 3-0, turning in one of their best overall performances of the season.

“The girls were in shock when we walked into the wrestling room on Wednesday,” Lenoir said. “They had no idea what was coming. We had nine circles and they were going at each other one-on-one in best-of-five matches. They legitimately wanted to win and gave maximum effort. I think it helped a lot today in terms of how we played.”

East Hamilton wrestling coach Ryan Cooper gave Lenoir permission to use the mats as long as the girls didn’t wear shoes or jewelry. Cooper even provided Lenoir with several drills for the Lady Hurricanes are he uses with his wrestlers.

The Lady Hurricanes’ solid start-to-finish effort paid off with consistently strong play and they disposed of the Bearettes by scores of 25-22, 25-23 and 25-20.

East Hamilton improved its records to 5-4 overall and 3-3 in District 5-3A.

They left the gymnasium Thursday feeling better about themselves, too.

“The whole point of the wrestling was to show everybody we have to play with more intensity and really want to win,” said Emma Lenoir, the coach’s daughter. “And you have to work hard to do that. It got a lot of people’s attention and we were more aggressive in our play. Wrestling showed us we have to fight to win and we did that today.”

Lenoir was at her best against the Bearettes. She was credited with 22 kills, 13 digs and two service aces.

Her kills had more zip. More power. And they were coming from every direction – down the middle, to the left side, to the right side, down each sideline. And she was throwing in a few of her patented fake slams with deftly placed touch shots that had the Bearettes off balance.

“Emma played incredible volleyball tonight,” Bradley Central coach Christy McElhaney said. “When they get the ball to her it’s almost guaranteed they’ll score a point. They have a good team and get the ball to Emma to her at any spot she wants it. It’s very hard to defend her, very hard to block her.”

Tori Harris was doing a lot of the setting during the match and finished with a team-high 25 assists.

Players were diving to the court to keep plays alive, hustling to make shots and overall displaying a renewed vigor about the sport.

“We were very surprised about the wrestling matches,” said Somer Batten, who eight kills for the Lady Hurricanes. “It caught us off-guard. It was tough and we went hard after each other. I really believe it helped us out today.”

Thanks to strong net play by Natalie Jennings, Bradley jumped out to an 8-3 lead in Game 1, but the Lady Hurricanes battled back to tie the game at 16-16 on a Batten kill shot. Hillary English scored on a rocket serve and an overhead volley by Bradley’s Julia Gaither went long, giving East Hamilton an 18-16 advantage.

The Bearettes regained the lead at 20-19 on Reagan Morrison’s service point. East Hamilton scored three straight points on a Batten kill and Lenoir’s sideline slap and kill. The Bearettes grabbed a 22-20 lead when a Batten serve went long and Lenoir netted a kill.

A Bradley miscue at the net, a shot by Gabby Ghassedi late sailed long provided East Hamilton with its 23rd and 24th points and Lenoir finished the game off with another kill.

East Hamilton led 11-9 in Game 2 when Lenoir scored on a kill after having her previous rocket returned and a service point by Harris and Bradley’s Monica Johnson was called for a double hit and Gaither and Jennings both netted kills as the Lady Hurricanes stretched the spread to 16-9.

Bradley trailed 22-17, but rallied with four straight points – Gaither had a kill, Breelee Arms added a service point, Jennings drilled a kill and Arms had a service point – and Lenoir hit a hard smash into the next.

Suddenly the Bearettes were tied at 22-all.

Lenoir countered with a kill that was deflected out of play by a Bradley player, Jennings yielded a point on a double hit to give East Hamilton a 24-22 margin. Gaither contributed a slap winner and another Lenoir kill gave the Lady Hurricanes a 2-0 game lead.

“We played flat and out of sync,” McElhaney said. “We had a real good match Tuesday against Walker Valley and played tough. Even against Walker we didn’t play up, but played steady. I don’t know if there is tension between some of the girls, but we’ll get to the bottom of it.”

In Game 3, East Hamilton built 8-3 and 16-8 leads and the spread was 20-15 after Lenoir’s fisted punch shot. Bradley scored two straight points on a Jennings kill and Lenoir’s shot that found the net. Batten scored on a tap, but Lenoir sent a kill out of play and the Lady Hurricanes’ lead was 21-19.

Batten added a kill and Johnson gave up a point on a double hit and East Hamilton was within two points of ending the match. They came when Lenoir smashed a cross-court kill and Bradley was called for touching the net.

Statistics

East Hamilton

Tori Harris – 1 kill, 3 digs, 25 assists, 3 aces

Hillary English – 8 digs, 1 assist, 1 ace, .5 block

Kayli Jones – 2 aces

Emma Lenoir – 22 kills, 13 digs, 2 aces

Somer Batten – 8 kills, 4 digs, 1 assist, 2 aces

Madison Hayes – 1 kill, 1 assist, .5 block

Jillian Myers – 10 digs, 2 aces

NOTE: Bradley Central coach Christy McElhaney did not provide team statistics

(E-mail Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @larryfleming44)

Bradley Central's Natalie Jennings goes up for a block against East Hamilton on Thursday. The Lady Hurricanes swept the match 3-0 and the three games were decided by five or fewer points.
Bradley Central's Natalie Jennings goes up for a block against East Hamilton on Thursday. The Lady Hurricanes swept the match 3-0 and the three games were decided by five or fewer points.
photo by Dennis Norwood
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