The 2015 District 6-AA All Tournament Team was announced following Hixson's win over Central in a five-set match. The Lady Wildcats' Paige Lawson was the tournament MVP.
photo by Dennis Norwood
It was a long night of volleyball at East Ridge's Catherine Neely Gymnasium, but it was worth it for the Hixson Lady Wildcats.
Top-seeded Hixson, improving to 35-13 overall, didn't have much problem defeating East Ridge in the first semifinal match of the day, winning in three straight sets by scores of 25-14, 25-10 and 25-13.
The championship match a couple of hours later with second-seed Central was another matter, but when the final point had been scored, the top honors went to the Lady Wildcats as they prevailed in a marathon, five-set match, winning by scores of 13-25, 25-23, 20-25, 25-20 and 15-13.
It was a long day for the Lady Pounders as well as they came thisclose to getting eliminated in the semifinals by defending tournament champ Red Bank.
The Lady Pounders stared defeat square in the face as they trailed 2-1 in sets and were down 24-18 in the fourth set. Somehow and someway, Central was able to score nine of the final 10 points in that set to win by 27-25.
The fifth set was somewhat anticlimactic as Central won 15-8, winning the match 3-2 by scores of 21-25, 25-22, 20-25, 27-25 and 15-8.
"The good news is that we're on fall break and can sleep late tomorrow," said a visibly tired Hixson coach Janet Tate after the last match had ended.
"There are times when I just need to keep my mouth shut and let them play, but I love the way we keep playing with fight and determination. We're never out of a match.
"Hats off to Central as they played well after a long match with Red Bank. I thought our serve-receive was big tonight as we've been working on that. And I thought that we passed better as the match progressed, but these girls have a lot of heart and I've seen it all season.
"We made it to the finals last year before getting whipped by Red Bank. We were looking for a different result this time," Tate added.
Paige Lawson, who has been the heart and soul of Hixson's team all season, was again the leader as she came through time after time in the clutch.
She finished the championship match with 20 kills and 18 digs, in addition to a block and a couple of aces. She was an obvious choice as the tournament MVP.
"I'm so proud of my teammates as we had high energy the whole night," she said after receiving her MVP award.
"We beat Central twice before today, but both times were really close matches. Tonight we put the ball where it needed to be. We're so happy right now," she added.
Central is now 18-10 overall after winning one and losing one on Tuesday. Coach Jeff Baughman liked what he saw and was extremely proud of an outstanding effort.
"These girls have worked hard all season and it showed in the match against Red Bank," he began.
"Our goal was to be in this championship match, but we came together as a team. Hixson was certainly a worthy opponent, but we couldn't have asked for a better night of volleyball," he added.
It seemed like Hixson was playing from behind the entire match. And based on the comeback that Central made against Red Bank, nobody was betting against the Lady Pounders to beat the Lady Wildcats for the first time in three tries.
A couple of hitting errors at the end allowed Hixson to even the match at two sets apiece, setting the stage for the final set to 15 with winner take all.
A kill from Brooke Parrott gave Central a 1-0 lead before a service error tied it at 1-1.
It looked like Hixson was ready to run away and hide after Tay Tay Staten recorded seven straight service points, getting plenty of help from Lawson in the streak with three kills and a block.
After a Hixson hitting error made it 8-2, Parrott went to the service line and knocked down six straight points to knot the score at 8-8.
The score was tied three more times, the last time at 11-apiece on a block by Hixson's Dakota Rawiszer. A kill and a block from Staten gave Hixson a two-point edge and the Wildcats had reason to celebrate a minute later when a double hit was charged to Central to end the match.
While Lawson had some impressive numbers for the winning Lady Wildcats, teammates Bailey Burba, Morghan White, Haleigh Raber and Staten joined her on the All-Tournament team.
Burba had 21 assists and 11 digs while White had 21 digs and 17 assists. Raber had 29 digs while Staten had 24 kills and 14 digs among other things.
Central was led by All-Tournament picks Lexie Ainslie, Sam Scott and Rebekah Hill.
Ainslie had 38 assists in the match against Hixson after recording 41 against Red Bank. Scott had 45 digs in the two matches, including 26 against Hixson, while Hill had 45 kills and 33 digs on the day, including 25 kills and 13 digs against Hixson.
Other All-Tournament selections included Rabbit Lawrence and Rickell Hill of East Ridge and Dani Usher and Marjorie Smith of Red Bank.
HIXSON STATS VS. CENTRAL:
Paige Lawson -- 2 aces, 20 kills, 18 digs, 1 block
Bailey Burba -- 1 ace, 1 kill, 11 digs, 1 block, 21 assists
Morghan White -- 21 digs, 17 assists, 1 block
Tay Tay Staten -- 2 aces, 24 kills, 14 digs, 1 block, 1 assist
Haleigh Raber -- 29 digs
Courtney Jones -- 6 kills, 3 digs, 4 blocks
Dakota Rawiszer -- 5 kills, 1 dig, 1 block
Kiera Taylor -- 5 digs.
CENTRAL STATS VS. HIXSON:
Brooke Parrott -- 10 kills, 5 aces, 18 digs
Hailey East -- 6 kills, 1 dig
Lexie Ainslie -- 3 kills, 1 ace, 38 assists
Emma Beach -- 1 dig
Adrian McClurg -- 8 kills, 2 digs, 1 block
Sam Scott -- 1 ace, 26 digs
Rebekah Hill -- 25 kills 13 digs, 2 blocks
Zariah McDonald -- 11 digs
Makayla Smith -- 2 kills, 1 block, 1 dig
HIXSON STATS VS. EAST RIDGE:
Paige Lawson -- 3 aces, 10 kills, 9 digs, 1 block
Bailey Burba -- 1 kill, 3 digs, 12 assists
Morghan White -- 6 aces, 9 digs, 15 assists
Tay Tay Staten -- 12 kills, 14 digs, 1 assist
Haleigh Raber -- 17 digs
Courtney Jones -- 5 kills 1 dig, 1 block
Dakota Rawiszer -- 6 aces, 2 kills, 2 digs, 1 block, 1 assist
Kiera Taylor -- 1 ace, 2 digs
Marly Fitzpatrick -- 2 digs.
EAST RIDGE STATS VS. HIXSON:
Rickell Hill -- 2 assists, 2 kills, 15 digs
Kayla Murphy -- 3 blocks, 3 digs
Mya Adams -- 7 assists, 3 kills, 5 digs
Michaela Moore -- 1 assist, 3 kills, 2 blocks, 6 digs
Rabbit Lawrence -- 5 assists, 5 kills, 5 blocks, 6 digs.
CENTRAL STATS VS. RED BANK:
Brooke Parrott -- 12 kills, 13 digs, 3 aces
Hailey East -- 5 kills, 1 dig
Lexie Ainslie -- 3 kills, 2 aces, 41 assists, 7 digs
Emma Beach -- 1 dig
Adrian McClurg -- 5 kills 2 digs, 1 block
Sam Scott -- 2 kills, 5 aces, 19 digs
Rebekah Hill -- 20 kills, 3 aces, 20 digs
Caitlin Maupin -- 3 digs
Zariah McDonald -- 5 digs
Makayla Smith -- 4 kills, 1 dig, 2 blocks.
RED BANK STATS VS. CENTRAL:
Janie Smith -- 1 kill
Megan Paradis -- 15 assists, 7 digs
Susie Marler -- 1 ace, 12 digs
Dani Usher -- 4 kills, 2 digs, 6 blocks
Jasmine Simpson -- 11 kills, 4 digs, 3 blocks
Maris Rennolds -- 2 kills, 3 digs, 3 blocks
Sam Wright -- 2 kills, 13 digs
Cassidy Payne -- 15 digs, 5 aces
Marjorie Smith -- 14 kills, 3 aces, 26 digs, 2 blocks
Layla Babb -- 1 kill, 3 digs
Hannah Wood -- 5 kills, 20 digs, 12 assists.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)
Hixson's Paige Lawson (4) with one of her 20 kills in the District 6-AA championship game against Central Tuesday evening in East Ridge's Catherine Neely Gymnasium. The top-seeded Lady Wildcats knocked off the Lady Pounders in a five-set marathon to claim the first-place hardware Lawson was the tournament MVP.
photo by Dennis Norwood