MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – If this was a fishing story, it would be about the big one that got away.
Instead, it’s about a state volleyball championship, but it’s still about the big one that got away.
The Signal Mountain Lady Eagles lost a heartbreaker to Christian Academy of Knoxville on Wednesday night in the second round of the Class AA division of the TSSAA state tournament.
They battled back on Thursday, winning three matches against three really good teams as they took the long road to Friday’s championship match.
Unfortunately, the results were the same against that same CAK team here at Siegel High School and it was almost a carbon copy of Wednesday’s match.
The Lady Eagles got off to a slow start as five straight aces by Courtney Shields allowed the Lady Warriors to build a 7-2 lead. The difference was 16-9 when Signal Mountain started its comeback.
Scoring six straight points, the Lady Eagles regained their lost momentum and eventually took the first set by a 25-22 final.
Signal Mountain appeared to be on its way to a win in the second set as the difference was 20-14 when the Lady Warriors called their second timeout. With Shields getting four kills in the last six points, CAK rallied to take the 25-23 win as the momentum had clearly switched sides.
The Lady Eagles never regained that winning form as the Lady Warriors finished off the match with wins by scores of 25-14 and 25-21.
“I’m really disappointed as we’re a better team than that,” said Signal Mountain coach Jennifer Redman after her team’s season concluded at 46-12.
“I thought that we came out strong and played well in the first set, but that was the end as they completely shut Taelor Kellum down. CAK upped their play and we didn’t. We’ve gotten so used to Taelor carrying us on offense, so it was hard to compete when she didn’t play her best match.
“That number 14 (Shields) totally ate us alive on serve receive. I’m just sorry that our season has to end this way. We made it to this point and I’m really proud of that as we could have lost at any point on Thursday,” Redman added.
CAK coach Jamie Petrik was really happy when his team won its first state title in his six years as their leader.
“It was a battle that could have gone either way, but it was really a team effort as everyone stepped up. We had a game plan coming in and that seemed to work, but we made some adjustments after the first set.
“We served aggressively and that was a key, but we won the service battle in three of the four sets and that may have been the difference. But I’m really proud as this is our first state championship ever in volleyball,” he added after his team finished with a record of 36-14.
Cheyenne Hooper, a 6-6 senior for the Lady Warriors, was presented the MVP after recording 14 kills and two blocks.
Shields also was outstanding with 16 kills, 12 digs and 11 aces while Caroline Henderson had 22 assists for the winners.
Kennady Collick had 11 kills and 11 digs to lead Signal Mountain while Kellum only had 10 kills and 13 digs.
Amanda Thielges finished the day with 30 assists while Aryn Sanders had 15 digs.
KYLIE SCRUGGS, a former East Hamilton player who transferred to Goodpasture two years ago, was honored as the Class A MVP after leading the Lady Cougars past Trinity Christian, 3-0.
Scruggs had 19 kills and 20 digs as Goodpasture won by scores of 26-24, 25-13 and 25-22.
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN STATS:
Kennady Collick – 11 kills, 1 assist, 2 aces, 11 digs, 1 block
Aubrie Johnson – 8 kills, 2 digs, 5 blocks
Taelor Kellum – 10 kills, 1 assist, 13 digs, 2 blocks
Hallie Hunt – 3 aces, 2 digs
Amanda Thielges – 1 kill, 30 assists, 4 digs, 3 blocks
Natalie Greve – 1 kill, 4 digs, 2 blocks
Aryn Sanders – 1 kill, 1 assist, 15 digs
Maia Rackel – 2 kills, 3 digs, 1 block
Sidney Lapinski – 7 digs.
CAK STATS:
Leighton Simpson – 2 assists, 4 digs
Caroline Henderson – 11 kills, 22 assists, 4 aces, 11 digs, 1 block
Kelsey Naler – 2 kills
Katie Raabe – 1 kill, 2 assists, 1 ace, 5 digs, 3 blocks
Cheyenne Hooper – 14 kills, 2 digs, 2 blocks
Courtney Shields – 16 kills, 1 assist, 11 aces, 12 digs
Bailyn Pierce – 13 assists, 12 digs
Taylor Call – 4 assists, 17 digs
Taylor Dodson – 6 digs.
(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@comcast.net)