An awful lot of hard work goes into the making of a championship volleyball team, including a lot of long practices, grueling weekend tournaments and at times, forsaking your friends to honor the commitment of doing what’s best for the team.
There are lots of goals along the way, but the ultimate one is to advance to the state tournament with hopes of winning it all. That final step is often the hardest one where the winner advances and the loser calls it a season.
The Lady Patriots from Chattanooga School for Arts & Sciences advanced to the state for the first time last year, but came home hungry for another chance after winning just one of three matches. That second chance presented itself on Thursday evening as the Lady Patriots overcame a case of the jitters in the early going to post a 3-0 victory over the North Greene Lady Huskies.
Improving to 31-6 with their seventh straight win, the Lady Patriots won by scores of 25-18, 25-15 and 25-9. North Greene ends its season at 22-12.
CSAS coach Brandon Lowry feels like this is the most pressure-filled match of the season with a state berth hanging in the balance. He knows that his team can play much better, but winning and just advancing was enough in their latest match.
“I was really interested in seeing just how we would play under the pressure of this being a sectional match,” Lowry began following the match.
“I thought we came out a little nervous, but I called a timeout with us leading 16-13 and we were able to find ourselves after that. We were able to settle in and play our style of volleyball as we got more and more comfortable. We didn’t allow them to get any momentum and they sort of lost their fire in the third set.
“We didn’t communicate as well as we normally do and we’ll have to be better in Murfreesboro. We’re capable of playing much better, but overall, I’m pleased with the result. It’s always a bundle of nerves at this point, but it’s been our goal all year to make it back to Murfreesboro. Tonight was very fulfilling for us all,” he added.
North Greene coach Emaline Erwin knew that maintaining high energy throughout the match would be critical for their success, but with only nine players available for action, that just wasn’t possible.
“This isn’t the result we had hoped for as our energy was low. We also made a lot of careless unforced errors and you can’t do that at this level, but we had a great season and are just sorry it had to end tonight,” she said matter of factly.
Five straight service points from Kaylee Cantrell put the Lady Patriots ahead 7-1 early and basically set the tone for the rest of the match. The Lady Huskies kept battling for all they were worth, but never led in that opening set.
A kill from Savannah Moore put CSAS up 16-8 before a kill from Kaydence Marshall and five straight service points from Mercy Buchanan cut the lead to 16-14. It never got any closer as the Lady Patriots scored five of the final seven points, taking the 1-0 lead on a kill from Trinity Williams.
A kill from Kennedy Franklin gave North Greene a 1-0 lead in the second set, but the Lady Patriots just kept battling and had a 9-5 lead on a kill from Cantrell, leading to the first timeout for the Lady Huskies. A kill from Emma Schnitzer extended the difference to 19-9 as Erwin called her second timeout.
A block from Hannah Miller cut the lead to 22-15 before the Lady Patriots got the win on back-to-back kills from Moore and Cantrell and a set-clinching block from Williams.
North Greene was able to score the first two points of the third set, but it didn’t take long for CSAS to get their ducks in a row as six straight service points from Gracie Lallier turned a 3-2 deficit into an 8-3 lead and it didn’t get any closer.
Six straight service points from Addison Ruder extended the lead to 22-7 before a kill a minute later by Lallier clinched the match for the Lady Patriots.
Now that the most important match of the year to this point is over, the Lady Patriots have four days to get ready for the next step that begins at Rockvale High School on Tuesday morning.
The Sale Creek Lady Panthers also advanced with a 3-0 win over Gordonsville, winning by scores of 25-12, 25-14 and 25-12. Sale Creek is now 46-2 for the season.
While CSAS and Sale Creek advanced in Class A, Signal Mountain advanced in Class AA with a 3-0 sweep of Murfreesboro Central, the Lady Eagles winning by scores of 25-15, 25-7 and 25-11. Soddy Daisy wasn’t as fortunate as they dropped a 3-0 match on the road at Upperman.
CSAS STATS:
Jaliyah Wilkes – 2 kills, 2 blocks
Trinity Williams – 3 kills, 1 block
Addison Ruder – 14 assists, 2 aces, 4 digs
Gracie Lallier – 5 aces, 5 kills, 3 blocks, 6 digs
Cassidy Long – 7 assists, 1 dig
Emma Schnitzer – 11 kills, 1 ace, 9 digs
Kaylee Cantrell – 4 kills, 5 aces, 4 digs
Brynne Burkhart – 4 assists, 1 dig
Savannah Moore – 6 kills, 3 blocks
Olivia Coleman – 2 aces
Sadie Ham – 1 ace
Amanda Gardner – 13 digs
Aubrey Houston – 2 digs.
SALE CREEK STATS:
Karma Higgins – 8 digs, 2 aces, 3 kills, 40 assists
Kiley Blaylock – 8 digs, 1 assist
Ava Higgins – 16 kills, 3 blocks, 1 dig
Enslee Norwood – 4 aces, 14 kills, 11 digs, 1 assist
McKenzie Parks – 7 kills, 10 digs, 1 block
Eisa Eilertson – 1 ace, 4 kills, 6 digs, 4 blocks
Hailee Blaylock – 1 kill
Lanee Cotter – 1 block
Kaylee Smith – 6 digs.
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN STATS:
Emily Redman – 4 aces, 7 assists, 20 digs, 14 kills, 1 block
Carlee Lowry – 12 assists, 15 digs, 7 kills, 1 block
Dillia Lowry – 7 kills, 8 digs, 2 blocks
Becca Rogers – 14 digs, 12 kills, 1 block
Elle Ramsey – 15 assists, 6 digs, 2 aces
Amelia Bustamante – 10 digs, 1 ace
Kate Gilbert – 1 dig, 1 block, 1 kill
Sydney Smith – 1 dig, 1 kill.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)