We’re still in the first week of the high school volleyball season, but there’s already a lot of enthusiasm and excitement over the new season with hopes and plans for teams to be better than they were a year ago.
Such is the case with teams from Boyd Buchanan and CSAS. Both were state tournament participants last fall as both had great seasons with better-than-average records.
And both coaches feel like they have teams that can be even better this year.
These two teams met in a non-district match at CSAS on Thursday evening. The Lady Patriots won the three-set match by a 2-1 score, winning by scores of 25-20, 19-25 and 25-20.
The Lady Patriots improve to 2-0 on the young season while the Lady Buccaneers are now 2-1 following their latest match.
“I thought we did some things today really well as we’re using a new rotation and giving a lot of young ladies a chance to step up and contribute,” said Boyd Buchanan coach Shanda Kirk following the match.
“I love our fight and our drive. They do a great job of pushing each other, but today was a great learning experience for us. We have talented players all over the court, so it’s hard to say where the ball is coming from, but I really liked our perseverence as we really battled.
“I thought that Caitlyn Kruse had a great match and that Isabella Messer was outstanding on defense. We graduated six girls, but fully expect to be back in Murfreesboro when the season ends,” Kirk said with a confident tone.
CSAS coach Brandon Lowry only lost two players to graduation. His team was 32-4 a year ago and he too has high hopes of doing even better with virtually the same group as last fall.
He too liked what he saw on Thursday.
“That was a really big win against a very good Boyd Buchanan team, but we schedule teams like them and Signal Mountain as a way for us to keep getting better,” Lowry said afterwards.
“We have a couple of girls who didn’t play because of injuries, so we had some who were a bit out of position. It showed at times. I thought we did a nice job running our offense in the first and third sets, but we had a problem with our passing in the second set.
“It’s still the first week and we still have much to work on, but I’m really pleased with what I’ve seen so far. We had the best team we’ve ever had last year and we have a shot to be even better when we get everyone back,” he smiled.
Kruse had a kill in the first set to knot the score at 12-12. A service error by the Lady Bucs and a kill from Gracie Lallier put CSAS up by two. An ace from Boyd’s Messer knotted the score again at 14-14 before four straight service points from Lallier put the Lady Patriots ahead to stay.
A kill from Emma Schnitzer followed her own service error to give CSAS the first set.
The Lady Bucs broke from a 3-3 tie in the second set to pull ahead by 10-6 before Lowry called his first timeout. Five straight service points by Milyn Hold extended that lead to 16-7 before the Lady Patriots had a brief rally that cut the lead to 16-12 following Olivia Coleman’s second ace.
A kill from Lallier trimmed it to three points at 18-15 and an ace from the Patriot senior made it 20-17 a minute later, but the Lady Bucs refused to buckle and evened the match at one set apiece following a CSAS service error.
Who knows for sure what coach Lowry said between the second and third sets, but whatever it was hit the mark as the Lady Patriots scored five of the first six points and never trailed.
A kill from Sarah Durham kept the Lady Bucs in contention at 23-20 before a block from Lallier and a kill from Schnitzer ended the match.
Both teams will be in tournaments this weekend with Boyd Buchanan traveling to Murfreesboro where they will take part in the Cougar Classic at Middle Tennessee Christian, the site of last year’s state tournament for their classification.
The Lady Patriots will be one of four teams in Hixson’s Wildcat Classic at Hixson Middle School.
BOYD BUCHANAN STATS:
None available.
CSAS STATS:
Emma Schnitzer -- 7 kills, 3 blocks, 1 assist, 3 digs
Gracie Lallier -- 8 kills, 5 blocks, 5 digs, 2 aces
Cassidy Long -- 11 assists
Addison Ruder -- 10 assists, 7 digs
Savannah Moore -- 2 kills, 3 blocks
Kaylee Cantrell -- 3 kills, 6 digs, 1 block
Olivia Coleman -- 4 aces, 4 digs.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)