COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – One point.
That’s all Ooltewah needed to claim its third straight Region 3-AAA volleyball championship.
It never materialized.
Shockingly, sixth-ranked Ooltewah blew a 14-10 fifth-set lead, Cookeville was error-free down the stretch and the Lady Cavaliers scored the final six points to beat the Lady Owls, 3-2, and capture the tournament title on their home court.
“That match should have been Ooltewah’s,” said Lady Owls coach Elaine Peigen, obviously frustrated with the loss after slamming her clipboard into the stands at Cookeville High School’s gymnasium.
“Cookeville’s a great team, but we only needed one point. We had plenty of opportunities to win, but we had more unforced errors than you could imagine.”
It was a colossal flop down the stretch for a team forced into a five-set match for the first time this season, which now looks iffy in terms of the Lady Owls earning a third straight trip to the state tournament at Middle Tennessee State University.
Ooltewah was impressive in winning the first set, but Cookeville rebounded by taking the next two and the Lady Owls captured the fourth to force the fifth.
Set scores were 25-11, 24-26, 19-25, 25-15, 14-16.
From a 6-6 tie in the finale the Lady Owls gained control and built a 14-10 lead – the fifth set is a 15-point affair – and appeared ready to seal the deal.
The Lady Cavaliers weren’t going to let that happen. They scored the next six points – three Lady Owls errors in the closing spree didn’t help their cause – and Gabi Marquez’s clutch kill drove a stake into Ooltewah’s heart.
“This is incredible,” Marquez said, after being mobbed by teammates following the marathon match. “It’s insane that I was able to get the final point. I’m so excited and happy.”
Runner-up Ooltewah (48-8) now faces a monumental test in the sectionals: the Lady Owls travel to Murfreesboro on Thursday to face Region 4-AAA champion Siegel (46-2), which is ranked second in the state by coachT.com and 20th nationally by MaxPreps.
Siegel swept Blackman, 3-0, on Tuesday after beating Lincoln County in the semifinals.
“It’s going to be tough,” Peigen said. “Anytime you have to travel, it’s tough. We’ll have to play our very best ball to have a chance.”
Ooltewah beat Siegel in a five-set thriller in the 2012 sectionals and the Stars still hold a grudge for that loss.
As the region champion – a first for Lady Cavaliers coach Jackie Cox – Cookeville (28-7) will host Blackman in the sectional round for a chance to advance to the state tourney next week.
The Lady Owls travel party departed Cookeville’s gym after the heartbreaking loss, licking their wounds as they walked out.
The loss stung.
It should’ve.
Ooltewah didn’t let the fifth set slip away. The Lady Owls gave it away.
Cookeville got the early lead, but the Lady Owls – their 48 wins is the third-best single-season mark in school history, behind 49 in 2007 and the all-time record of 52 in 2002 – broke away from a 6-all tie to build a 10-7 advantage on Alex Biro’s kill.
Ooltewah extended the lead to 13-9 on Courtlyn Ison’s slap shot. Cookeville’s Bailey Kress, the tournament most valuable player, made the score 13-10 on a kill. Ison recorded another of her 21 kills to garner the 14-10 lead.
Cookeville was in a predicament.
“I was nervous and the girls were nervous,” Cox said when the final set score was 14-10 in Ooltewah’s favor. “The team with 10 should be fearful in that situation. The team with 14 should be really confident. My girls didn’t give up.”
Ooltewah didn’t quit either. It just couldn’t finish.
Kress dropped a kill on the Lady Owls. An Ooltewah shot sailed beyond the sideline boundary and its lead was 14-12.
Frayed nerves?
After a Lady Owls timeout, Marquez scored on a block and an Ooltewah error tied the set at 14-all. Ison, the Belmont University commitment who suffered through a rare sub-par performance, sent a kill into the net to push Cookeville within a point of winning.
One point.
What Ooltewah couldn’t deliver, Marquez did for the 16-14 win and pandemonium broke out on the Cookeville end of the court.
“Going into the fifth set,” Marquez said, “all we had to do was stay positive and not let up.”
The Lady Owls, who failed to nail down their ninth region title, came out of the chute playing like they could put Cookeville away in three sets. The Lady Cavaliers never led in the opening set and at one point trailed 19-9. Biro’s kill clinched the set for Ooltewah.
Cookeville, however, stormed back to win the second and third sets to go up 2-1. It rallied from an 11-2 deficit and held strong through nip-and-tuck action down the stretch.
Ooltewah last led at 6-5 in the third and 20-13 after Abby Hazel’s kill. Cookeville’s lead was 22-16 following Ison’s serve sailed long. Marquez’s kill gave Cookeville a 24-19 cushion and Ison drilled a kill shot long to end the set.
When Sidney Killingsworth’s kill landed just inside the sideline boundary, Ooltewah had a 17-14 lead and Cookeville’s Whitney Campbell sent a shot long and a team error gave the Lady Owls a 19-14 lead.
An Ooltewah block slipped just wide, but the Lady Owls scored six straight points – Biro’s block ended the run – and headed into the fifth set staring the Lady Cavaliers in the eye.
Several minutes later, Ooltewah blinked.
STATISTICS
Ooltewah
Summer Williams – 8 digs, 2 aces
Courtlyn Ison – 21 kills, 6 digs, 1 ace, 3.5 blocks
Hanna Matthews – 1 kill, 14 digs, 2 aces, 22 assists, 1 block
Alex Biro – 9 kills, 2.5 blocks
Josie Cain – 21 digs, 3 aces, 4 assists
Allie Jones – 5 kills, 4 digs, 2.5 blocks
Kailin Higgins – 11 digs, 2 aces, 1 assist
Maddie Milliken – 2 kills
Emily Grace Thompson – 2 kills, 2 digs, .5 blocks
Alexis Godsey – 2 digs
Sidney Killingsworth – 10 kills, 1 dig, 1 block
Cookeville
Sydney Bean – 2 kills, 37 assists, 1 ace, 3 digs
Rachel Davidson – 1 kill, 2 aces, 8 digs
Cayla Hawkins – 2 aces, 9 digs
Abby Hazel – 7 kills
Bailey Kress – 14 kills, 5 aces, 8 digs
Emma Richardson – 3 aces, 6 digs
Whitney Campbell – 3 kills, 3 aces
Meg Talkington – 4 kills, 1 block
Gabi Marquez – 10 kills, 1 assist, 1 dig
All-Region 3-AAA Tournament Team
Ooltewah – Josie Cain, Hanna Matthews, Courtlyn Ison
Cookeville – Sydney Bean, Gabi Marquez, Abby Hazel, Bailey Kress (MVP)
(E-mail Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @larryfleming44)