The Sale Creek Lady Panthers won their fifth straight District 6-A volleyball tournament championship on Tuesday night in the friendly confines of McEwen Gymnasium, but chances are good they didn't have to work as hard for the first four as they did for the fifth.
Facing Lookout Valley for the third time this season after each team had won in the other's gym, the Lady Panthers won the one that meant the most, but they had to come up off the deck to do so, rallying to win the last three sets after getting beat soundly in the first two.
If ever there was a case of victory being snatched from the jaws of defeat, this was it for the never-say-die Lady Panthers as Sale Creek won by scores of 21-25, 17-25, 25-12, 26-24 and 15-11.
Sale Creek had advanced to the title match with a 3-0 win over Van Buren County, winning by scores of 25-19, 25-6 and 25-7, while Lookout Valley had eliminated Marion County by scores of 25-15, 25-7 and 25-12 to reach the championship match.
"It wasn't always pretty as it was a lot of back and forth play, but we just kept battling and the desire to win was huge," said Sale Creek coach Debbie Hill after her team had improved to 30-20 for the season.
"Playing here in our gym was a big deal as we have a ton of loyal fans. But I didn't say much toward the end. I had tried everything in those first two sets, but when these girls decide to play, they can play with anyone," she added.
While everything had gone Lookout Valley's way in the first two sets, things looked good for the top-seeded Lady Jackets.
The tide started to turn in the third set when Sydney Poe recorded seven straight service points early as Sale Creek stretched a tense 3-2 lead into a more comfortable 10-2 advantage. The Lady Panthers never let up and the Lady Jackets never recovered.
The fourth set was probably the best of the match, but again, the Lady Panthers had the answer when they needed it most.
With Lookout Valley holding a 21-17 lead and on the verge of winning the match, Sale Creek scored the next point before sophomore Ariana Smith knocked down four straight service points for a 22-21 lead.
The score was tied three more times before tournament MVP Jordan Duncan recorded one of her 19 kills to give the Lady Panthers a 25-24 lead. A hitting error on the next volley evened the match at two sets apiece.
Smith was the sparkplug in the fifth set with four straight serves at the beginning that gave her team a 6-3 lead. She later added a couple of timely kills to put her team up 13-11 before the match ended on two straight kill attempts by Lookout Valley that were long.
"We just don't match up with Lookout Valley very well as they know how to put the ball where we aren't," Hill added.
"We had a great weekend where we won the Bronze division at the Middle Tennessee Classic in Franklin. We lost our first three matches on Friday, but won six of seven on Saturday and that really helped build our confidence. But it's huge for us to win here tonight because the goal is to stay away from the other district champion," Hill nodded with a smile.
Duncan is a 17-year-old senior who's been a member of the Sale Creek team these past two years after transferring from Soddy Daisy. She's certainly been a positive addition to the team, but never has her play been any better than it was on Tuesday night.
"We just stepped up and played our hearts out, but we were confident that we could win. We started feeling more confidence when our fans started getting louder, but we also prayed and prayed and prayed. That may have been the biggest key to our win," she said with a smile after finishing the match with 19 kills, 11 digs, five blocks and one ace.
Lookout Valley coach Pat Conard was really feeling pretty good after her team won the first two sets, but she felt more like Tennessee football coach Butch Jones afterward.
"This is how I felt after the Tennessee-Florida game on Saturday. I thought we showed a lot of guts, but Sale Creek was on a roll after a great weekend and it showed. We're certainly disappointed with the results, but we'll all leave here with our heads held high.
"I thought we did a good job of keeping them off balance at the start, but our serve receive and our passing was terrible in that third set. I felt good after the second set, but that was a different team the rest of the way. We had a tough time passing and it's tough to get our offense going if we don't get the ball to Annie Marr," the veteran coach nodded.
While Duncan earned MVP honors, teammates Smith and Poe also were named to the All-Tournament team.
Smith finished with six kills, 16 digs and five aces while Poe had 23 digs and two aces.
Marr and Walker were all-tournament picks for Lookout Valley as Marr finished with eight aces, seven kills, 33 assists, 10 digs and a block while Walker had 22 kills, 19 digs, half a block and an ace.
Other members of the All-Tournament team included Van Buren's Carolyn Walling and Marion County's Erica O'Kane.
LOOKOUT VALLEY STATS (championship match only):
Savannah Walker -- 1 ace, 22 kills, 1/2 block, 19 digs
Brianna Evers -- 1 ace, 4 kills, 20 digs
Taylor Hoge -- 1 ace, 2 kills, 1/2 block, 2 assists, 14 digs
Katelyn Mitchell -- 1 ace, 3 kills, 1 assist, 15 digs
Annie Marr -- 8 aces, 7 kills, 1 block, 33 assists, 10 digs
Elexis Foster -- 5 kills, 1 block, 13 digs
Scarlett Hamrick -- 2 digs.
SALE CREEK STATS (championship match only):
Abbey Burton -- 7 kills, 2 digs, 1 assist
Lauren Smith -- 8 kills, 21 digs
Hayli Radtke -- 1 kill, 2 digs
Ariana Smith -- 6 kills, 16 digs, 5 aces
Bailey Pugh -- 7 digs, 25 assists
Bailey Nelson -- 7 digs, 13 assists, 3 aces
Jordan Duncan -- 19 kills, 11 digs, 1 ace, 5 blocks
Gracie Janow -- 5 kills, 1 dig, 2 blocks
Sydney Poe -- 23 digs, 2 aces
Kayleigh Cooper -- 2 digs
Tayla Willis -- 2 kills, 5 digs, 1 assist.
(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@comcast.net)