Both GPS and Ooltewah know what it’s like to be involved in a big volleyball match.

After all, GPS won a Division II state championship last year while Ooltewah advanced to the finals in D-I AAA before finishing as the runner-up.

Both lost some key players from those teams, but both have rich traditions in the sport.

They are both well-coached and you can always count on them having outstanding teams, no matter how many great ones graduate.

These two powerhouses met at Ooltewah on Thursday afternoon.

Granted, it’s still the first week of September and the match has no bearing on anybody’s district or region standings, but play was intense and points were hard-earned.

The spirited crowd of volleyball fans who gathered got their money's worth as these two battled toe-to-toe for more than 90 minutes.

The visiting Bruisers won the final three games to win the match after dropping the first game.

Ooltewah won the first game by a 25-22 final before GPS prevailed by scores of 26-24, 25-20 and 25-21.

GPS improves to 4-1 overall while Ooltewah is now 4-3, having lost all three in the last three days.

“We need to focus on the small stuff,” expressed GPS coach Paul Brock after a post-match meeting with his team.

“We made a lot of little silly errors in the first two games, but we got better as the match progressed.

"We have gotten into this bad habit of digging ourselves into a hole before making a comeback, but that’s not such a good idea against better teams.

“Granted, our expectations are high and I'm glad that we beat a good Ooltewah team today, but I wasn’t very happy with the way we played in the first two games.

"I felt much better with our performance in the last two. We finally started hitting our spots and it’s a whole lot easier when you minimize your service errors.

“Now we need to focus on the Choo Choo tournament this weekend. We won it two years ago and would love to win it again, but there will be some outstanding teams there,” Brock added.

Ooltewah coach Elaine Peigen was feeling better about the way her team has improved this week, even though their record doesn’t show it.

“We’re pleased with the way we played after the losses on Tuesday and Wednesday.

"Things are beginning to click just a little bit better, but we still have a long way to go,” she said while players, parents and other interested spectators stood around and talked when it ended.

“We played a lot better today and I’m happy about that. GPS has an outstanding team and I hope we can play them again, but it was nice to see we didn’t just lay down and quit,” Peigen added.

Heather Parman was the leader for GPS with 21 kills, 16 digs and four aces.

Jasmine Brown also played extremely well and finished with five kills, 17 digs and 32 assists.

Whitney Hammond recorded nine kills and 21 digs while Megan Givens had 18 digs.

McKenzie Stokes had nine digs and three aces while Katie Dorris had six kills and two digs. Tory Lewis added a pair of kills and three blocks.

Audra Morgan was one of Ooltewah’s leaders as she finished with 34 digs, six blocks and 13 service points.

Morgan Sullivan had a productive outing as well as she had seven kills, 13 digs, five blocks and eight service points, including a pair of aces.

Bri Shoemake added 18 digs and 11 service points, including four aces while Nikki Brooks had a dozen kills and six digs.

Libby Peigen had 20 digs and eight kills while Kennisha Cook had 19 assists.

Kianna Delaney finished the day with two kills and five blocks while Laren Bennett added seven assists.

Both of these teams will be in the Choo Choo tournament and both will be involved in pool play at Red Bank.

GPS squares off against Cleveland at 4 p.m. Friday while Ooltewah faces Hixson, also at 4.

(Email John Hunt at tnmoose2002@aol.com)