Hardee's Tenn-Ga All-Star Volleyball Classic

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Team Tennessee will look to continue its dominance on the volleyball court Thursday night when the 6th Annual Hardee's Tennessee-Georgia All-Star Classic gets underway at Girls' Preparatory School in Chattanooga.

 

The best-of-five match will begin at 6 p.m.

 

The match will wrap up the 2009 Tennessee-Georgia All-Star Classic Series, which pits recent high school graduates from a dozen counties in Southeast Tennessee against their counterparts from Northwest Georgia.

 

The Volunteer State squad will once again feature an imposing lineup of some of Chattanooga's best players, including five players from the host school.

 

Heather Parman, Danna Myatt, Jasmine Brown, Megan Givens and Whitney Hammond were all instrumental in the Bruisers' 52-8 season in 2008, which culminated in a second consecutive Tennessee Division II state championship.

 

Parman will be taking her game to UT-Chattanooga next season after recording 721 kills, 501 digs, 166 aces, 95 blocks and 685 assists to garner All-State status. She finished her prep career with 1,624 kills.

 

Brown also was named All-State after racking up 1,168 assists, 617 digs, 418 kills, 111 blocks and 108 aces in her senior season. She will serve it up next year at the University of Tennessee.

 

Myatt will play volleyball for Bryan College while Givens and Hammond will play sotfball at Tennessee next season.

 

Also on the Tennessee roster will be Red Bank's Christina Teter and Melanie Gibson, Notre Dame's Erica Cowart and Amanda Marini and East Ridge standout Takeisha Parham.

 

Teter will join Parman at UTC. She earned Class AAA All-State status last fall after recording 474 kills, 155 blocks and 68 aces. She and Gibson helped the Lady Lions to a 47-10 record and an appearance in the Class AAA Final Four.

 

Cowart and Marini were two of the biggest hitters on the Lady Irish' perennial powerhouse squad, which won the Harpeth Hall Fall Classic back in September.

 

Parham was a Class A/AA All-State pick. She had 624 kills, 124 blocks, 426 digs and 31 aces.

 

Team Tennessee will be directed by Coaches Paul Brock, Michael Pittman and Sarah Lail.

 

Team Georgia will be looking for its first-ever win in the series.

 

Four members of this year's roster are recent graduates of Ringgold High School, which has had several players and award winners in the Volleyball Classic over the years.

 

Lady Tigers Paige Eslinger, Leah Swanson, Monica Kafka and Megan Hall helped guide the Blue-and-White to the Area 6-AAA championship this fall and a berth in the Class AAA Elite Eight.

 

Eslinger was the 6-AAA Player of the Year after recording 648 digs. She and Swanson will play for Piedmont College next season. Kafka is headed to Reinhardt College after recording 398 kills and 376 digs as a senior.

 

Two Whitfield County players that will make an impact are Northwest Whitfield's Kelsey Minor and Dalton's Emily Broadrick.

 

Minor had 897 assists, 63 aces, 26 kills and 13 blocks as a senior while the 6-foot-2 Broadrick is headed to Lee University in the fall to play for Lady Flames.

 

Broadrick was the Area 7-AAAA Most Valuable Player and was named the All-Area Player of the Year by Dalton Daily Citizen. Her 4.5 kills per game was one of the highest averages in the state and she finished the year with 413 kills and 95 blocks as the Lady Catamounts went to the Class AAAA state quarterfinals.

 

Dalton head coach Lisa Donahue calls her "one of the best to ever play at Dalton."

 

Rounding out the Peach State squad is LaFayette's Leslie Welch.

 

Welch had 384 kills, 70 blocks, 56 digs and 25 assists as a senior and was one of the most feared hitters in all of Area 6-AAA. She led the Lady Ramblers to a runner-up area finish this past fall and an Area 6A/AA title as a junior where she was named as the Area Player of the Year.

 

A two-time North Georgia Dream Team Player of the Year, Welch recently signed to continue her career at Shorter College.

 

Team Georgia will be coached by Jake Dickey and Jennifer Summers.

 

Tennessee leads the all-time series, 5-0.

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For the first time in 3 seasons, Georgia takes a game off the Tennessee All-Stars but Tennessee still wins 3-1

 

http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_153045.asp