MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — East Hamilton opened the TSSAA state 3A volleyball tournament in a big way Tuesday morning coming out on top of a five set toe-to-to slugfest with Collierville.
The Lady Hurricanes fell to the Lady Dragons 27-25 in the first set, but bounced right back to take control in sets two and three with wins of 25-18 and 25-20. The Dragons stayed alive with a 25-17 victory in the fourth set only to fall in the tiebreaker 15-12.
The Lady 'Canes move on to Wednesday's Round 2 and will face the winner of West Ridge and Nolansville at 9:30 a.m., CST.
“We started the state championship like it's a championship game,” said East Hamilton head coach Antonela Tomic. “It's something that we talked about, no matter who's on the other side, no matter if it's a district game, non-district or whatever we play one point at a time. No matter if it's region or whatever we play like it's a championship match. We play with a championship mindset.”
The Dragons were in control to begin the day scoring seven of the first eight points of set one causing Tomic to call a quick timeout. Coming out of the break, East Hamilton fought back with kills from Camryn Daniels and Julia Culpepper along with back-to-back aces by Daniels to make it a 9-6 game with Collierville still holding the advantage.
The 'Canes again fought back and tied the score at 10-10 before the Dragons pushed to a 17-10 lead. Savannah Hughes and Georgia Dobson blasted kills to the floor to keep East Hamilton close. A pair of kills by Dobson along with a block by Culpepper and an ace from Tristin Sutton closed the margin to 19-18. Minutes later, two aces off the fist of Dobson and a kill by Camryn Vaughn put the Lady 'Canes out front, 22-21. From there the teams battled back-and-fourth tying the score four times before the Lady Dragons earned the final two points of the set to take the 27-25 win.
“I wasn't worried because we knew our skills matched Collierville's skills. However, it is a state championship. It was the first match, first set of the state championship and we were a little bit tight,” the Lady 'Canes coach related. “We just kind of refocused and said we are going to play East Hamilton volleyball and that's what we did.”
After breaking a 6-6 tie in the second set, the Lady Hurricanes pulled ahead to take a 12-7 lead on the strength of kills by Sutton and Hughes. A kill by Dobson made it 14-8. Collierville closed the gap to 14-11 before kills and an ace by Dobson and two kills by Sutton made it 19-12. The Dragons fought back to close the gap to 21-16 and put two more points on the board before Dobson closed it out with a final kill.
Set three saw the Lady 'Canes push to a 9-6 lead with points by Culpepper and Daniels. Collierville came back to knot the score at 11-11 before Hughes sparked a five point run for East Hamilton that included kills from Culpepper and Sutton. From there it was just a matter of time as the Lady Hurricanes stayed comfortably in front and held a 24-20 lead before Dobson picked up her second set ending kill of the day.
The tide turned for the 'Canes in set four as Collierville raced to a 14-7 lead and stayed out front the rest of the way to knot the set scores at 2-2 forcing a fifth set tiebreaker.
“We got down a little bit in the fourth set. I thought Collierville started serving more aggressively and our service receptions weren't as good as in previous sets,” Tomic said. “Our players never stopped believing. They had the mindset like we're in this together and didn't really focus on the score and we really focused on one play at a time. This time it worked in our favor, but I really believe we earned it.”
The Dragons took an early lead by a 4-1 margin and led 6-4 before East Hamilton came back to tie the score at 6-6 and 7-7. Collierville pushed to a sim 9-7 lead before the Lady Hurricanes tied the score once again at 10-10 on a Dobson kill. Sutton broke the deadlock with an ace and Hughes made it 12-10 with a huge block. Collierville came back to make it a 12-11 game before an error and kill by Hughes gave East Hamilton a 14-11 lead. The Dragons picked up a final point before Hughes sent the Lady Hurricanes to the second round with a final kill to close the 15-12 set and match win.
“Tristin (Dobson), our setter, I thought she ran a really good offense. Our service was really good and we love using our serve as our offense. I felt we pushed Collierville out of their system,” said Tomic. “It was a full team effort and that's what has been really the focus for this team. This team is really about all in and all together it's not one player and one player is winning for us. We do this together.”