Signal Mountain Maintains Top Spot In 7-AA Volleyball

Lady Eagles Sweep Chattanooga Christian In Key Match Thursday

  • Thursday, September 25, 2014
  • John Hunt

Signal Mountain volleyball coach Jennifer Redman has been preaching the same message to her team since pre-season workouts began back in July.

She's been emphasizing just how important it is for her team to win the District 7-AA regular-season championship.  By doing so, at least three things result.

First, Signal Mountain earns the number-one seed for the district tournament.  Second, that would enable the Lady Eagles to host that tournament and third, it would put them on the opposite side of the bracket from the second and third-seeded teams, namely Notre Dame and Chattanooga Christian.

The Lady Eagles still have several key matches remaining, but they took a huge step toward achieving those goals after sweeping CCS on Thursday afternoon in the Signal Mountain gym.

The first set was by far the best and most competitive, but the Lady Eagles came off the deck more than once to prevail by a 28-26 final.  The next two sets weren't nearly as intense or close as Signal also won them by scores of 25-16 and 25-18.

With the win, Signal Mountain improves to 30-5 overall and 7-0 in 7-AA.  CCS falls to 19-14 overall and 4-3 in district play.

"We've been saying since the beginning how important it is for us to win the regular-season championship and to get the top seed in the tournament.  We haven't clinched that yet, but today's win is a big step in that direction," said Redman after the match ended.

"We certainly didn't play our best today, but we played well enough to win.  I thought that we played in spurts.  When we needed to play well, we did.  We have a very athletic team and we seem to do well when we play hard.  That was certainly the case in the first set and it was nice to get that one out of the way.  But we're off and on and we need to be more consistent," she added.

In the first set alone, there were 15 ties and seven lead changes.

The Lady Eagles didn't lead for the first time until a kill from Aubrie Johnson gave her team a 10-9 advantage.  Four straight service points from Aryn Sanders a few minutes later allowed the Lady Eagles to build a 17-13 lead, but a kill from Cassie Curry and three straight hitting errors by Signal Mountain allowed the Lady Chargers to knot the score at 17-17.

Neither team had more than a two-point lead the rest of the set.  A Lady Eagle volley went out of bounds to give CCS a 26-25 lead, but another kill from Johnson knotted the score once more before kills from Kennady Collick and Taelor Kellum clinched the win for the home team.

The Lady Chargers did their best to stay close in the second set and were tied at 10-10 following a Lady Eagle shot that was long.  Signal Mountain then scored nine of the next 11 points to take command and the Lady Chargers were unable to come back.

CCS got five straight service points from Hannah Stewart for a 9-7 lead in the third set, but again the Lady Eagles rallied.  Before CCS coach Brian Wood could call timeout, Signal Mountain had scored 10 of the next 13 points and the match was basically over as the lead just kept getting bigger and bigger.

Four straight service points from Curry -- including a pair of aces at the start -- got the Lady Chargers to within 22-18 before two kills from Kellum and a CCS hitting error closed the match.

"We lost a tough five-set match to Notre Dame on Tuesday, so losing that close first set today just took the wind out of our sails," said coach Wood afterward.

"Basically, our defense let us down.  We had several occasions when we'd get close and then make three or four silly mistakes in a row.  We still have a lot of work to do before the district tournament begins.

"I was really proud of Kate Linkous, who is a sophomore and got her first varsity start today.  She had a good match as she played really well, but we just have to keep working to get better," Wood added.

Kellum had her usual outstanding match and finished with 13 kills and 16 digs while Johnson had 10 kills and four blocks.  Aryn Sanders finished with 22 digs while Collick followed with 17.  Amanda Thielges finished the day with 31 assists.

For the Lady Chargers, Riley Visser set the pace up front with 10 kills while Curry followed with seven.  Stewart was credited with 15 digs while Taylor Youell finished with 10 assists.

Chattanooga Christian returns to action on Monday in a four-way meet at East Ridge involving Notre Dame and Red Bank.  Both CCS and Notre Dame will play the other two teams, but not each other.

Signal Mountain will take a road trip to Baylor on Monday before hosting Notre Dame and Bledsoe County in key district matches on Tuesday.

CHATTANOOGA CHRISTIAN STATS:

Taylor Youell -- 2 kills, 10 assists, 2 digs, 1 ace

Hannah Stewart -- 15 digs, 2 aces

Riley Visser -- 10 kills, 5 digs, 1 ace

Annika Fischer -- 1 kill, 1 block

Madison Schuster -- 6 kills, 3 digs, 1 ace

Cassie Curry -- 7 kills, 3 digs, 2 aces

Kate Linkous -- 2 kills.

SIGNAL MOUNTAIN STATS:

Aryn Sanders -- 22 digs, 3 aces

Kennady Collick -- 5 kills, 17 digs, 1 block

Aubrie Johnson -- 10 kills, 4 blocks

Taelor Kellum -- 13 kills, 16 digs, 3 aces, 3 blocks

Hallie Hunt -- 5 kills, 13 digs

Amanda Thielges -- 9 digs, 1 ace, 2 blocks, 31 assists

Natalie Greve -- 4 digs, 1 ace.

(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@Comcast.net)

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