Ooltewah Sweeps East Hamilton For Third Straight 5-AAA Volleyball Title

(This story has been updated)

It’s a red-and-white trifecta.

Ooltewah’s top-seeded Lady Owls stormed past rival East Hamilton, 3-0, in a hot, stuffy Soddy-Daisy High School gymnasium on Wednesday and captured their third consecutive District 5-AAA volleyball tournament championship in convincing fashion.

“That’s nice,” Ooltewah’s veteran coach Elaine Peigen said.

Ooltewah was in command the entire night, winning by 25-10, 25-15 and 25-13.

East Hamilton, the No. 6 seed, had only three brief leads the entire match – 2-1, 4-3 and 6-5 in the first set.

The Lady Hurricanes (18-26) knocked off No. 3 Soddy-Daisy and No. 2 Walker Valley to reach the title match, but couldn’t match Ooltewah’s skill and athleticism.

“Ooltewah is a very, very, very good team,” Lady Hurricanes coach Kristy Lenoir said. “You have to play at your very best just to compete with them. I’m proud of my girls, though. I dare say that nobody in this gym thought East Hamilton would be playing on Wednesday.”

This year’s title run, which capped two straight undefeated league seasons, was Ooltewah’s 11^th tourney championship dating to 2000.

Powered by two-time tournament MVP Courtlyn Ison, the Lady Owls (47-7) advanced to the Region 3-AAA tourney next Monday as a strong favorite. They will face the District 6-AAA runner-up Rhea County at 6 p.m. (Eastern) at Cookeville High School.

As runner-up, East Hamilton draws 6-AAA champion – and host – Cookeville at 7:30 p.m.

The winners play for the region title on Tuesday, already assured of a spot in the sub-state round.

“It has been really exciting,” said Ison, who had 15 kills – that’s her specialty – to go along with 10 digs, 6.5 blocks and two aces. “It’s been a lot of hard work. It’s been fun. It’s been friendships, family and hours in the gym trying to keep up with what Ooltewah volleyball is all about.”

And that’s winning.

Over the past two seasons, two of which ended at the state tournament in Murfreesboro, the Lady Owls have a remarkable 91-19 record. They’ve won 24 consecutive regular-season games. Ooltewah played 12 district matches during the season, a total of 36 sets, and lost only one to Walker Valley on Sept. 23.

In 2013, Ooltewah again was 12-0 and it won 36 of 43 sets. Only Soddy-Daisy was able to win two in a single match against the Lady Owls.

“We’re playing a faster game this year, a more consistent game, and better all-round than last year,” Peigen said. “It’s a complete team effort right now. Everybody is contributing.

“We had a little lull against Walker Valley, losing that one set, but Walker Valley is a great defensive team.”

Each time East Hamilton – only McMinn County (0-12 in regular-season play) was seeded lower for the tournament than the Lady Hurricanes – got a one-point lead in the first it lost the next point to the aggressive Lady Owls.

From a 6-6 tie Ooltewah ran off seven straight points, including two by Alex Biro, who was credited with seven kills in the match.

“We played as if it was just another district match; nothing to fuss over,” Biro said. “We came out and got it done.”

The Lady Owls extended their early run by outscoring East Hamilton 19-4 to run away with the first set. Up 19-9, the Lady Hurricanes saw Ooltewah ring up four straight points.

Sidney Killingsworth’s kill – one of five for her – produced the Lady Owls’ 24^th point and the final point came when a kill by East Hamilton’s Meredith Stott went long.

“They have a good team,” Stott said, “with good players and they definitely work well together. We came out with the mindset that we knew it would be a struggle and we lost some of our focus and energy. I think we could have played better, but they deserved to win and I congratulate them.”

Ooltewah jumped out to a quick second-set led behind Ison’s strong play at the net, not only by scoring. She had four of the Lady Owls’ first six points on blocks.

East Hamilton moved to within 13-9 on Samantha Headrick’s hard smash that bounce off Ison and out of bounds.

Ooltewah had an answer for that, too.

The Lady Owls scored nine of the next 10 points – Hanna Matthews got a tip off a high lob East Hamilton return, Emily Grace Thompson scored on a kill, Summer Williams put up a service point, Ison chalked up two more blocks and Josie Cain had two service points, one an ace – for a 22-11 advantage.

In that streak, East Hamilton had three unforced errors.

Ison got the 23rd point and Allie Jones finished off the set with back-to-back kills.

“We were pretty comfortable coming in here tonight,” said Cain, who had 15 digs, one kill and three aces. “We actually feed off having a target on our backs because we want to beat them (the opposition) as bad as they want to beat us.”

With the third set even at 1-all, Ison scored on three kills and a tip and Sidney Killingsworth had a tap-down point and the Lady Owls zipped into a 6-1 lead.

Later, Stott’s kill went off Ison and out of bounds and Headrick had a service point to pull East Hamilton to within 13-7.

The Lady Owls didn’t sweat it.

They went on a 7-2 run – Biro, Alexis Godsey, Jones and Maddie Milliken had scored offensively – to stretch the margin to 20-9.

Two straight Ison kills put the Lady Owls up 23-11. Stott’s netter gave Ooltewah its 24^th point and Ison’s slap shot clinched the victory and championship.

“It’s exciting knowing we won the tournament and head to regionals with a lot of confidence,” Ison said. “We’re going to stay humble because we want to play our best and not give up what we shouldn’t give up.”

Come Monday, no matter the opponent, Ooltewah will be ready to hold up their end of the deal in the regional.

“We’re confident and winning the district tournament is great,” Biro said. “This is definitely a reputation we’ve kept up. It feels good when you walk into a gym and people are like, ‘That’s Ooltewah.’ That’s a real motivator for us. Each time we go out there we’re ready to play our best.”

East Hamilton, with its roster of seven players, might be ready to pull another surprise against either Cookeville or Rhea County as well.

“We’re going to work our hardest and do our best in regionals,” Emma Lenoir said.

STATISTICS

East Hamilton

Emma Lenoir – 10 kills, 7 digs, 4 aces

Somer Batten – 1 kill, 11 digs

Tori Harris – 13 assists, 1 kill, 10 digs

Meredith Stott – 5 kills, 2 digs

Samantha Headrick – 3 kills, 8 digs, 1 ace

Jillian Myers – 2 digs, 1 ace

Ooltewah

Summer Williams – 2 digs, 1 ace

Courtlyn Ison – 15 kills, 10 digs, 2 aces, 6.5 blocks

Maddie Milliken – 4 kills, 5 digs, 1 ace, 28 assists, .5 blocks

Alex Biro – 7 kills

Josie Cain – 15 digs, 1 kill, 3 aces

Allie Jones – 6 kills, 1 dig, .5 blocks

Kailin Higgins – 6 digs, 2 aces

Emma Grace Thompson – 3 kills, 3 digs, 1 block

Alexis Godsey – 4 digs, 2 aces

Sidney Killingsworth – 5 kills, 1 ace

District 5-AAA All-Tournament Team

Ooltewah – MVP Courtlyn Ison, Hanna Matthews, Josie Cain, Alex Biro, Sidney Killingsworth, Emma Grace Thompson

East Hamilton – Emma Lenoir, Meredith Stott, Tori Harris, Samantha Headrick

Bradley Central – Natalie Jennings, Lisa Duvall

Walker Valley – Madison Pruett, Ashlyn Flock

(E-mail Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @larryfleming44)