MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – There was good news and bad news from Rockvale High School here on Thursday in the TSSAA Class A State Volleyball Tournament.
The good news is that Sale Creek’s winning streak extended to 43 straight matches with an easier-than-expected 3-0 sweep of the Harpeth Lady Indians for a berth in Friday’s championship finals in Class A at Siegel High School.
The bad news is that the Lady Patriots from Chattanooga School for the Arts & Sciences ended their season first thing Thursday after getting swept by East Robertson in the loser’s bracket. The Lady Patriots had another outstanding season that finished at 32-7, but somewhat disappointing after finishing with a 1-2 record here for the second straight year.
Sale Creek, now 49-2 on the season, was never tested by the Lady Indians as Hailee Blaylock recorded her only block of the match on the very first point as the Lady Panthers sailed on smooth water the rest of the way, winning by scores of 25-13, 25-12 and 25-12.
Sale Creek coach Erin Briner, who is all but worn out from three days of volleyball and her role with a newborn daughter Annie who is now 13 days old, was just happy that her team did what they were supposed to do in this latest win.
“I thought we played really well as these girls have totally bought in to what we’ve been trying to teach this fall. They are all so invested, but today was a bit more relaxed than the first two matches and didn’t give away the first set like we had done the first two days,” Briner said in her motel lobby after her team had returned from a relaxing and rewarding meal at Olive Garden.
“These girls are still really hungry, but it was our goal today to completely take Harpeth out of their offense and to serve aggressive. I know we had too many service errors, including half of their points in the third set, but I’ll take missed serves for aces every time.
“We really don’t have to say much at this point in the season as they know what’s at stake. As I keep saying, if we take care of our side of the court and do what we’re capable of doing to the best of our ability, we’ll be alright. It’s been a tremendously rewarding season and now we just have one more match,” Briner said almost with a sad tone knowing it’s almost over.
McKenzie Parks was outstanding for the Lady Panthers as she finished with 11 kills, 10 digs and three aces while Ava Higgins played her usual good match with 10 kills and four digs. Younger sister Karma Higgins had 30 assists in addition to seven kills and five digs while Enslee Norwood added 10 digs and nine kills for the winners.
CSAS coach Brandon Lowry, who wants to win as much as anyone and hurts as much as anyone when his team gets beat, didn’t mince words in his post-match comments as he quickly pointed to the difference in the match.
“We got beat late in all three sets because they made more plays and fewer errors than we did,” he began.
“I’m really proud of this team as we didn’t lose a set at home this fall and this is a great group of young ladies, but we left a little bit on the table today. Being here last year helped our confidence, but we still had four girls who were here for the first time. But it just hurts that we couldn’t win here today,” he said in a quiet tone.
The Lady Indians won a nailbiter in the first set as they prevailed by a 25-23 final before winning the last two by identical 25-19 scores.
East Robertson jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first set before the Lady Patriots got settled. A kill from Emma Schnitzer knotted the score at 4-4 before CSAS took the lead at 7-4 on a kill by Gracie Lallier, a block by Lallier and another kill from Schnitzer.
The difference was 14-11 when the Lady Indians called their first timeout.
Two straight kills by Katie Pennington knotted the score at 15 while two more kills from Morgan Ryan a minute later tied the score again at 18 before giving her team the lead for the last time.
An ace by Pennington made it 20-18 leading to the first timeout for CSAS while a kill by Ryan made it 23-19 before the second timeout for the Lady Patriots.
A kill by Savannah Moore got CSAS with a point at 23-22 before an ace by Lallier tied it for the last time, but a kill by Mason Hester put East Robertson at set point before a hitting error by CSAS put the Lady Patriots in an early hole.
Like coach Lowry said earlier, his Lady Patriots were in all three sets until the very end.
A kill by Lallier cut East Robertson’s lead to 19-18 in the second set, but it didn’t get any closer as the Lady Indians used two kills from Hester and an ace from Kayleigh Pasco gave East Robertson a 2-0 lead.
A kill from Lallier in the third set got CSAS within a point at 18-17 before back-to-back kills from Libby Keith gave the Lady Indians a little breathing room. She had two more kills a minute later for a 24-17 lead and the match ended shortly afterward when a Lady Patriot serve sailed long.
Schnitzer was the leader for the Lady Patriots with 11 kills while Addison Ruder had a dozen assists. Amanda Gardner was the team leader with seven digs while Lallier finished with four blocks.
SALE CREEK STATS:
Eisa Eilertson – 6 kills, 2 blocks, 3 digs, 1 assist
Kiley Blaylock – 5 digs, 1 ace
Karma Higgins – 1 ace, 7 kills, 1 block, 30 assists, 5 digs
Enslee Norwood – 1 ace, 9 kills, 10 digs
McKenzie Parks – 3 aces, 11 kills, 1 block, 10 digs
Hailee Blaylock – 1 block
Lanee Cotter – 1 kill
Ava Higgins – 10 kills, 1 assist, 4 digs.
CSAS STATS:
Amanda Gardner – 7 digs, 2 assists, 1 ace
Jaliyah Wilkes – 2 kills, 1 block
Trinity Williams – 3 blocks, 1 kill
Addison Ruder – 12 assists, 3 digs
Gracie Lallier – 7 kills, 4 blocks, 2 aces, 1 dig
Cassidy Long – 7 assists, 1 ace
Emma Schnitzer – 11 kills, 4 digs
Kaylee Cantrell – 2 kills, 1 dig
Brynne Burkhart – 5 assists, 2 digs
Savannah Moore – 4 kills, 1 block
Olivia Coleman – 3 digs
Aubrey Houston – 3 digs.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)