Ooltewah's 5-AAA Volleyball Roll Still Going Strong

Lady Owls Beat Bradley, 3-0, For 22nd Straight Victory

Thursday, September 25, 2014
Larry Fleming

CLEVELAND, Tenn. – Ooltewah defeated host Bradley Central 3-0 on Thursday and moved one step closer to posting its second consecutive unbeaten volleyball season in District 5-AAA.

Courtlyn Ison, Alex Biro, Josie Cain and Emily Grace Thompson paced the Lady Owls (31-5, 10-0) past the Bearettes (12-20, 3-8) by set scores of 25-10, 25-11 and 25-23.

Bradley Central led only once in the first two sets, that coming at 5-4 in the opener. The two rivals were tied at 7-7 in the first, but the Lady Owls quickly got the upper hand and outscored the hosts 18-3 to win going away.

The Lady Owls jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the second set and cruised to a 2-0 advantage in the match. Bradley had a 5-3 lead, but Ooltewah went on a 6-0 run and nursed small leads for the rest of set three, which was tied at 19, 20, 21 and 22 down the stretch.

“In the first two games tonight we played great,” Lady Owls coach Elaine Peigen said. “We made a lot more serve-return errors we shouldn’t have made, but overall it was a great match.”

Ooltewah can finish its second straight unblemished district campaign next week by beating Soddy-Daisy (senior night) and Cleveland (pink out) in home matches. The Lady Owls will go into Tuesday’s match against the Lady Trojans having won 30 of 31 sets this season. Walker Valley won one match in a 3-1 loss to Ooltewah on Tuesday.

The Lady Owls have won 22 consecutive district matches over the past two years.

“For me, that’s awesome,” said Ison, who got eight of her match-high 15 kills in the first set. “You don’t way to say we’re used to that sort of thing because it could come back and bite you. It’s good to know we’re continuing the Ooltewah volleyball legacy and, hopefully, once all six seniors leave the other girls can maintain that standard of play.”

The Bearettes, who were forced to make mid-season changes after two players left the team, could not keep pace with the Lady Owls early on, but found renewed vigor in the finale and almost pulled out a win.

“We played a little better in the last set,” Bradley Central coach Christie McElhaney said. “We’re just not building back up from the adjustments we had to make. Regardless of the first two games today, we needed to build something positive before playing in this weekend’s tournament at Siegel in Murfreesboro. I think we might be headed in the right direction.”

Ooltewah came out playing inspired volleyball behind Ison’s tenacious slams at the net.

The senior, who will sign a scholarship with Belmont University later in the fall, scored four of Ooltewah’s first seven points on kills that had the Bearettes on their heels. Back-to-back Ison smashes gave the Lady Owls a 17-9 margin.

“We were all pumped and excited to play,” she said.

Hammer shots by Hanna Matthews and Thompson, a Bradley serve that was netted, another Ison kill and one more by Thompson pushed Ooltewah’s lead to 24-9. Ison was blocked at the net, but her eighth kill clinched the set.

“Courtlyn hit the ball great,” Peigen said. “I expect a lot out of her and sometimes I think I’m too hard on her, but she put the ball down hard tonight.”

Following their quick getaway in the second set, the Lady Owls kept pressing the action, but the Bearettes were within 14-8 after Monica Johnson’s kill.

Refusing to be rattled, Ooltewah scored the next six points for a 20-8 advantage. Biro started the run with a winner and Ison followed with one of her own. Summer Williams got one of her six aces and added a service point ahead of Ison’s 13^th kill.

Williams recorded another service point for the 20-8 cushion before serving long to snap the streak.

Ison scored on a patented windmill smash and notched a service point to put Ooltewah’s lead at 24-11. Bradley’s Reagan Morrison’s shot sailed out of play for the final point as the Lady Owls, displaying the will of a champion, went up 2-0.

“(The league win streak) is definitely a big deal for us,” Biro said. “It’s special and that fuels us to play even better. It’s one thing to fight your way to the top, but another thing to stay on top.

“Next week we played Soddy-Daisy and Cleveland, teams that have definitely given us problems before. We have to keep fighting hard if we want to finish 12-0 this season. Most of our girls are multisport athletes or year-round athletes and we’ve got a lot of discipline that helps in games against tough competition.”

In the third set, a net shot and error at the net by Bradley triggered the Lady Owls’ 6-0 run that included a Biro block and three straight service points by Ison.

With the score tied at 19-all, Ison scored on a kill, but her long serve knotted the score at 20-20. Biro’s kill put Ooltewah up by one. Johnson’s block tied it again. Bradley’s Gabby Ghassedi service point gave the Bearettes a 22-21 lead. However, Ghassedi served long and the teams were level.

Biro blocked Jennings to give the Lady Owls a 23-22 lead and a Bearette miscue at the net stretched the margin to 24-22. Bradley got a kill, but Thompson’s kill ended the match.

“I think Emily Grace played the best she’s ever played,” Peigen said. “Josie got to a lot of balls (19 digs) and Hanna (25 assists, two kills, four digs, two blocks and one ace) played good tonight.

“These girls are mentally tough. We are the target in our district and we should be. They don’t get down when they fall behind and have a lot of fight in them.”

STATISTICS

Ooltewah

Summer Williams – 8 digs, 6 aces

Courtlyn Ison – 15 kills, 6 digs, 3 aces, 1 block

Hanna Matthews – 2 kills, 4 digs, 1 ace, 2 blocks, 25 assists

Alex Biro – 6 kills, 6 blocks

Josie Cain – 16 digs

Allie Jones – 2 kills, 3 digs, 1 block

Kailin Higgins – 4 digs, 2 aces

Maddie Milliken – 2 kills

Emily Grace Thompson – 6 kills, 2 digs, 1 block

Sidney Killingsworth – 1 kill, 2 digs