MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Pressure doesn’t seem to faze the Sale Creek Lady Panthers and it doesn’t seem to have much of an impact on the way the CSAS Lady Patriots play either.
Both advanced to the second round of the TSSAA state volleyball tournament in Class A with impressive wins here at Rockvale High School Tuesday, the Lady Panthers improving to 47-2 with a 3-1 win over the Milan Lady Bulldogs while the Lady Patriots won their 11th straight match and improved to 32-5 with a 3-0 sweep of the Gibson County Lady Pioneers in the third match of the day.
Sale Creek now takes on Loretto, which won a tough 3-2 match over East Robertson in the day’s first match. CSAS will now face Harpeth, which swept South Greene in the final match of the day.
Sale Creek has had a great season thus far with Tuesday’s win being their 41st in a row. Three straight aces by Karma Higgins and a kill from older sister Ava Higgins allowed the Lady Panthers to score the first four points and the difference was 11-4 following an ace by McKenzie Parks.
An ace from Ava Higgins put Sale Creek up 21-14 leading to Milan’s second timeout. Whatever was said must have been good as the Lady Bulldogs scored 11 of the last 12 points to win the first set, 25-22.
That loss didn’t sit well with the Lady Panthers as it must have embarrassed them a bit because they came storming back to win the match with three straight wins by scores of 25-9 and the last two by lopsided 25-6 scores.
Sale Creek coach Erin Briner, still trying to regain some strength after the first of her second daughter 11 days ago, didn’t seem to be the least bit bothered by that first set letdown.
“I think we all need a swift kick every now and then to wake us up, but I think the biggest problem in that first set was we tried to play too soft. As long as we can learn from an experience like that, I’m not too upset as we settled down and played pretty well after that bad first set,” she said out in the lobby away from the action in the gym.
“That’s volleyball in a nutshell as momentum can change in a hurry. We normally don’t play very well in our first match, but I thought we played really well in the last three sets. We’re excited that we get to play Loretto tomorrow as we’re in a pretty good mental space. If we play our game, we’ll be okay,” she concluded with a smile.
Ava Higgins led the hitters up front for the Lady Panthers with 15 kills while Parks was next with 14. Karma Higgins added 36 assists and eight digs, in addition to six aces and four kills. Eisa Eilertson, who doesn’t receive the publicity some of the others get, had five blocks and five kills in addition to three aces.
The CSAS Lady Patriots put on an impressive show following Sale Creek’s comeback as they swept the Lady Pioneers by scores of 25-14, 25-14 and 25-23. It was an especially rewarding win for coach Brandon Lowry as it was his 300th career victory as a volleyball coach.
Lowry admitted he was a bit nervous before the match began and he really got tense in the third set, but his girls used last year’s first trip to this tournament as proof they learned from that experience as they were methodical in beating the Lady Pioneers.
“Just a matter of surviving and advancing, but we needed that one,” he said matter of factly after a series of team pictures were taken in honor of the memorable occasion.
“A win here at the state tournament is something I don’t take lightly, but I felt like we took care of business for the most part. I thought we got a little complacent in the third set and stopped moving, which prevented our offense from working like it’s supposed to, but I feel like we made a statement in that match.
“We wanted to get out of the gate early and take any sense of hope they might have had away, but I never want to diminish a win. I thought we served well and we did a good job of adjusting to Sania Reeves, a really good outside hitter who’s good enough to hurt you,” Lowry added.
Kaylee Cantrell was a perfect example of the outstanding serving that her coach was referring to as she reeled off five straight at the start of the match to turn a 4-1 deficit into a 6-4 lead and she closed out the first set with six more service points that included two of her five aces.
The Lady Patriots built a 7-2 lead before Gibson County’s first timeout while a pair of aces from Brynne Burkhart extended that lead to 10-2. The difference was 19-13 when Amanda Gardner stepped to the service line and knocked down four straight for a 23-13 lead.
A kill from Emma Schnitzer put CSAS at set point before a block from Gracie Lallier gave the Lady Patriots their second 25-14 win.
The Lady Pioneers weren’t quite ready to surrender as they played their best volleyball in the third set. They led for most of that final set, including the last time at 18-16 following an ace by Hannah Prestininzi. An ace by Cantrell put the Lady Patriots ahead for the last time at 19-18.
A hitting error by the Lady Patriots knotted the score for the final time at 23-23 before a hitting error by the Lady Pioneers put CSAS up by a point, leading to a match-clinching kill by Moore.
Schnitzer had a dozen kills and Moore nine to lead the CSAS hitters while Addison Ruder and Cassidy Long had 11 and 10 assists, respectively. Amanda Gardner had her usual outstanding match and finished with seven digs while Trinity Williams had six blocks.
SALE CREEK STATS:
Eisa Eilertson – 3 aces, 5 kills, 5 blocks
Kiley Blaylock – 2 aces, 4 digs
Karma Higgins – 6 aces, 4 kills, 36 assists, 6 digs
Enslee Norwood – 2 aces, 3 kills, 7 digs
McKenzie Parks – 1 ace, 14 kills, 2 assists, 5 digs
Kaylee Smith – 1 dig
Hailee Blaylock – 2 kills
Lanee Cotter – 1 kill
Ava Higgins – 3 aces, 15 kills, 4 blocks, 4 digs.
CSAS STATS:
Amanda Gardner – 2 aces, 1 kill, 3 assists, 7 digs
Jaliyah Wilkes – 5 blocks
Trinity Williams – 6 blocks, 1 kill
Addison Ruder – 2 aces, 11 assists, 1 dig
Gracie Lallier – 4 kills, 4 blocks, 1 assist
Cassidy Long – 1 ace, 10 assists
Emma Schnitzer – 12 kills, 6 digs
Kaylee Cantrell – 4 kills, 5 aces, 2 digs
Brynne Burkhart – 5 assists, 2 aces
Savannah Moore – 9 kills, 2 blocks
Olivia Coleman – 2 digs
Aubrey Houston – 2 digs.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)