Cleveland rolls vs. Ooltewah in volleyball opener

CLEVELAND, Tenn. - Cleveland's Lady Raiders got their first view from the top Thursday. And for now, they're going to stay there.

Last year, Cleveland's volleyball program accomplished a few things it never had before, not the least of which was advancing to the TSSAA state tournament and even winning a match. But it all started with the Lady Raiders winning the District 5-AAA regular-season championship, which they began defense of by hosting and defeating Ooltewah 25-19, 25-14, 25-22 in their season-opening match.

The longest scoring run of the match was nine consecutive points by Cleveland in the first set that started with the Lady Owls up 4-2. The second set was tied at 1 and at 2, but the Lady Raiders led the rest of the time.

Cleveland's largest lead in the third was 20-13. Coach Trish Flowers used a timeout after Ooltewah (1-2, 1-1) got within 21-20, and apparently what she had to say during the minute break encouraged her players to finish it out.

"They went out there and got refocused," Flowers said.

The Lady Owls had been at the top of the district standings for a few years until the Lady Raiders unseated them last year. Now Cleveland is having to adjust to the role of favorite.

"It's nice to be the team that everybody wants to beat," Flowers said. "This was a tough match to play to start the season. All these teams we play are going to continue to get better, just like we are.

"We've tried to have the mentality that you only have to win by two, instead of having unreal expectations of thinking we have to win every game by 10 or 20."

Despite the loss, Ooltewah coach Elaine Peigen wasn't totally displeased.

"There were a lot of things we saw that were correctable from this match that we can change or fix," Peigen said. "I'm not disappointed in our performance overall. But we didn't play as well in the first two sets as we did in the third. I think this team has a lot of potential. I can't wait to see what we do by the end of the year."

The Lady Owls graduated six off last year's team, including four starters. Peigen would have liked for her team's first of two district meetings with last season's champ to have been a little later in the season.

"I hate having to play them this early in the season," Peigen said. "It was a draw, so, 'Here we go.'"

Emma Flowers topped Cleveland with nine kills and Anna Renshaw contributed eight. They each had nine digs, second only to Hannah Longley's 13, and combined for 25 assists.

Coach Flowers praised the play of Madeline Dasher, a first-year starter as a junior who chipped in with seven kills and equalled Joy Douglas with a team-high three aces.

Cheyenne Sales had eight kills for the Lady Owls and Sakari Pack added seven. Mabry Carpenter led with 16 digs and Ally Chernak had 10 while also leading with nine assists and two blocks.

Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him on Twitter @KelleySmiddie.

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