The volleyball regular season ended for prep teams in the Chattanooga area on Thursday as the focus now turns to next week’s district tournaments.
Central’s Lady Purple Pounders went to Red Bank where they faced the Lady Lions in the Susan Ingram Thurman Gymnasium. Both teams are still trying to find their identity as the season progresses, but both feel like they are headed to the post-season optimistic they can upset a few folks along the way.
Central won Thursday’s match in five sets, but it was a battle from start to finish.
The Lady Pounders won the first two sets by scores of 26-24 and 25-14 before the Lady Lions rallied to win the third and fourth sets by scores of 26-24 and 25-18. Then with all the chips on the line in the fifth set, Central was able to pull out the 15-11 victory.
It’s been a whirlwind ride for coach Jenney Kanagy and her Lady Pounders as this is her first year as their coach. It’s been a roller-coaster ride for sure, but it finished with more ups than downs and that’s what makes the young coach the happiest.
“These girls like to give me heart attacks, but it’s amazing how far we’ve come since the season began,” she said after her team improved to 13-11 for the season.
“It’s either fight or die for these girls. We’ve made so many mistakes and unforced errors, but we do well when we can eliminate those. We came here tonight with nothing to lose. We have plenty of potential, but we just have to believe in themselves.
“It was nice to see them pull this one out as this was our first five-set match of the season. I thought our heads were in the match, but we go into our district tournament on a winning note and I feel like we have a chance to surprise a few folks,” she added.
This is also the first year as head coach for Red Bank’s Taylor Gatewood. Winning hasn’t come as easily as she would have liked, but like Central, they have come a long way and have a chance to make some noise in their district tournament, which starts Monday at Signal Mountain.
“I was proud of the way we fought the entire match. We really didn’t get going until the third set, but we played together as a team in the next two sets and literally left it all on the court tonight,” she said after her record dropped to 4-9 overall.
“We played as a team in the third and fourth sets, but once we got behind in that fifth set, we let it get in our heads. That’s been one of our biggest problems all year, but volleyball can be such a mental sport.
“I really feel like we have a chance to shock some folks, but we just need to keep playing as hard as we did tonight,” Gatewood added.
Service errors and unforced hitting errors can be a problem for teams at times and that was certainly the case in this match. Red Bank was guilty of 17 service errors and 44 hitting errors in the match while Central had 14 service errors and 29 hitting errors.
It was a comedy of mistakes at the start, but both did a good job of minimizing them later as the quality of play got much better on both sides.
The first set was nip and tuck, despite all of the errors on both sides. Central led most of the way, but the score was tied a dozen times.
Red Bank got its first lead at 17-16 on an ace by Brooklynn Smith. The difference was 22-19 following a block by Isabella Watson, but Red Bank made four errors after that to give Central the win.
Delani Thurman was the difference in the second set as the Central senior recorded eight straight service points, including five aces, as the Lady Pounders rallied from a 7-6 deficit to take a 15-7 lead.
Kierston Williams got the run started with a kill, setting the stage for Thurman’s serving prowess.
Four straight service points from Smith, including two aces, allowed Red Bank to get within five at 18-13, but an ace from Rebecia Tipton a minute later gave the Lady Pounders a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five match.
Central led at the start of the third set before back-to-back aces from Sydney Callison gave Red Bank its first lead at 11-9. A kill from Olivia Keebler knotted the score at 19-19 for Central, but Red Bank stayed in the match with back-to-back kills from Londynn Roberts and Ashanti Eddins to force a fourth set.
The Lady Lions played their best volleyball of the match in the fourth set as five straight points from Chloe Hilton put her team up, 9-4. Three kills from Brooklynn Ervin helped Red Bank stretch that lead to 15-6 before Central called its second timeout.
The difference was 16-7 before a kill from Thurman made it 16-8. Seven straight service points from Keebler made it 16-14. Central added another point before Red Bank stopped the bleeding with a block from Eddins.
Five straight service points from Ervin gave the Lady Lions a little breathing room at 22-15. Kills from Eddins and Hilton put Red Bank at set point before winning on a Central hitting error.
Four straight service points from Emma Lakin, including a pair of aces, gave Central a 4-0 lead in the last set and it was 7-3 following a kill by Jordan Whittemore.
Red Bank kept battling and eventually knotted the score at 11-11 on a kill from Roberts, but a kill from Thurman gave the lead back to Central for the last time before winning a minute later on a kill from Keebler.
Central is the third seed in the District 5-AA tournament that starts on Monday at Meigs County and they will face Tyner in that first match with the winner facing the McMinn Central-Brainerd winner on Tuesday.
Red Bank is the number six seed in the 6-AA tournament at Signal Mountain and will play third-seed Hixson in the first match at 5 on Monday. The winner of that match faces number-one Signal Mountain on Tuesday at 6:30.
RED BANK STATS:
Sydney Callison -- 2 aces, 34 digs
Londynn Roberts -- 1 ace, 2 kills, 9 digs
Brooklyn Smith -- 3 aces, 2 kills, 35 digs
Jai'Liana Davis -- 6 digs
Ashanti Eddins -- 1 ace, 13 kills, 1 dig
Brooklynn Ervin -- 3 aces, 8 kills, 16 digs
Chloe Hillian -- 3 aces, 7 kills, 20 digs, 20 assists
Violet Mercer -- 15 digs
Bella Watson -- 2 kills, 2 blocks, 3 digs
Hagan Griffith -- 1 ace, 5 kills, 4 digs.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)