It didn't take Signal Mountain long to win its third straight District 7-AA volleyball tournament championship Thursday night.
The Lady Eagles made it three straight wins over the Chattanooga Christian Lady Chargers, but this last meeting wasn't really close as the hostesses took charge from the opening serve before securing the victory about an hour later.
"We were ready to play today. We had a good game plan and we stuck to it," said Signal Mountain coach Jennifer Redman after her team had prevailed by scores of 25-13, 25-17 and 25-19.
"Our goal was to attack their weaknesses and I feel like we did that, but we basically did what we had planned to do. I thought we did well on serve receive and we covered the floor well. I think it's safe to say that we played our best volleyball of the season, especially on the defensive end," Redman added.
Taelor Kellum was a force as usual for the Lady Eagles up front as slender senior finished with 18 kills and a dozen digs. When she's on, she's extremely hard to defend. And when she goes up for a kill, it comes straight back down and almost impossible to return.
"Taelor sees the court so well. She has such long arms and can hit it so hard. I'm thankful that she's been part of this team for the past three years, but I'd hate to have to defend her," the Signal Mountain coach praised.
CCS coach Brian Wood knew that his team was facing a huge challenge long before they entered the gym. Things didn't turn out quite like he had wanted.
"We let them get a big lead in all three sets and you just can't do that against a good team. Signal Mountain is a very good team," he began his post-match comments after his team had dropped to 23-21 for the season.
"I was pleased with our fight and I liked our hustle as we never gave up, even though we were behind most of the time. We didn't pass very well as we didn't execute our game plan. The Kellum girl is an impressive volleyball player and we tried to play away from her.
"We've lost to them three times, but I'm hoping we get another shot in the region," he added.
Riley Visser set the pace for the Lady Chargers with 10 kills and six digs while teammates Taylor Youell had 16 assists and Hannah Stewart 12 digs. All three were named to the All-Tournament team.
Aryn Sanders had 18 digs while Kennady Collick had 14 digs as they joined Kellum on the All-Tournament team for the Lady Eagles. Amanda Thielges finished with 25 assists while she and Hallie Hunt both had 11 digs.
Both Signal Mountain and Chattanooga Christian will be on the road for region play next week as CCS will face Macon County in the first match with Signal Mountain facing Livingston Academy in the second. The two winners then meet for the region title with both advancing to the sectional round.
ALL-TOURNAMENT -- Taelor Kellum, Kennady Collick, Aryn Sanders (Signal Mountain); Hannah Stewart, Riley Visser, Taylor Youell (Chattanooga Christian); Kaylee Stone, Reagan Dodson, Grace VanderWerf (Notre Dame); Whitley Burnett (Grundy Co); Casey Peters (Bledsoe Co.); Makailya Hoo (Sequatchie Co.).
CHATTANOOGA CHRISTIAN STATS:
Taylor Youell -- 1 kill, 4 digs, 16 assists
Kelbie Williams -- 1 kill
Hannah Stewart -- 12 digs
Emily Henderson -- 4 digs
Riley Visser -- 10 kills, 6 digs
Annika Fischer -- 1 block
Madison Schuster -- 4 kills, 3 digs
Cassie Curry -- 4 kills, 2 blocks.
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN STATS:
Aryn Sanders -- 18 digs, 4 aces
Kennady Collick -- 14 digs, 1 kill, 2 aces
Aubrie Johnson -- 4 digs, 2 kills, 1 block
Taelor Kellum -- 12 digs, 18 kills, 1 block, 1 ace
Kenzie Lewis -- 2 digs
Hallie Hunt -- 11 digs, 3 kills
Amanda Thielges -- 11 digs, 2 kills, 25 assists
Natalie Greve -- 7 digs, 2 kills, 1 ace.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@comcast.net)