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Central volleyball falls into loser’s bracket at state tourney





Central volleyball falls into loser's bracket at state tourney

Central volleyball falls into loser’s bracket at state tourney

Central Magnet’s volleyball team got a tough draw when it faced the East Hamilton Patriots from Chattanooga in the first round of the Class AA state tournament at Siegel Tuesday.

East Hamilton was last year’s Class AA runner-up, but the Tigers took them to the brink before falling 3-2 (27-29, 25-19, 17-25, 25-22, 5-15).

Central Magnet will now play Greenville Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. If the Tigers win, they will have to win three matches in the loser’s bracket on Thursday at 9:30 a.m., 5 p.m. and 7:30 PM.

If they can accomplish that, they’ll play for a state title at 1 p.m. Friday at Siegel.

“They are one of the premier programs around, no question,” Central Magnet coach Dusty Stearns said. “We made a lot of unforced errors because we don’t have a lot of experience at the state tournament. Hopefully in the future we can remedy that.”

In the decisive fifth set, East Hamilton scored the first six points and Central Magnet couldn’t recover. Hana Suzuki and Georgia Dobson were too much as the hitters led East Hamilton to the 15-5 match win.

In the first set, it featured 10 ties and had the Tigers ahead 21-19, but errors and good serving led to their downfall as East Hamilton tied it and eventually more errors led to them taking the set 29-27.

In the second set, the Tigers played better as the offense was moving and the serving was good and crisp. There were four ties from 8 to 11.

A block by the Patriots left Central Magnet with a 17-14 lead. Later in the set, Noelle Obi pounded one of her 15 kills and it was 23-16, and the Tigers won the set 25-19.

In the third set, East Hamilton got an early lead at 6-3 and extended it to 19-12 before winning it 25-17.

In set four, Central Magnet got a lead and held it. The Tigers began with a 10-3 lead, and late in the set Culpepper got a block and made it 21-19.

Mia Finley willed her team to a fifth set. She landed a pair of kills then an ace to get Central Magnet closer as it was tied at 22. Afterward, three more Tiger points gave them the set 25-22.

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