Grace, Sale Creek Advance In Region 3-A Volleyball

It will be a battle of district volleyball champions on Tuesday night at Grace Baptist Academy for the championship of Region 3-A.

District 5-A champ Grace had little problem moving past Lookout Valley while 6-A winner Sale Creek was also a 3-0 winner in its semifinal match with the Silverdale Lady Seahawks.

Grace won by scores of 25-15, 25-14 and 25-13 while Sale Creek’s scores were 25-18, 25-22 and 25-18.

The championship match is set to begin at 6 p.m. on Tuesday with the winner hosting a sectional match on Thursday and the loser hitting the road.  Thursday’s winners then advance to next week’s state tournament in Murfreesboro.

Grace coach Hillary Waters may have been just a little bit tense in her team’s first match after not playing as well last week as she may have liked.  But whatever the case, the Lady Golden Eagles came out ready to play and were simply too much for the Lady Yellow Jackets.

“We came out with high energy.  We really didn’t know what to expect as this was the first time we had played Lookout Valley, but some of our younger girls are stepping up and playing well in big matches and I’m really proud of that,” Waters said after her team had improved to 30-9 for the season.

“We know that all of these teams are playing pretty good volleyball right now and we knew we’d have to play one of our best matches.  I really liked how we played as we made a lot less errors tonight than we did in our last match,” she added.

Lookout Valley coach Dan Basler knew his girls were in an uphill battle from the start. 

“We had a tough time against a good team like Grace, but we fought hard and I can’t fault our effort.  We made too many errors and missed at least 10 serves as we may have been just a little bit overwhelmed, but I feel like Alex Smith is the best player in Chattanooga and we couldn’t do anything to stop her.

“And the fact we were dealing with a hostile crowd didn’t help us either,” he added.

It took a few minutes for the Lady Golden Eagles to get going as Lookout Valley used an ace from Scarlette Hamrick to grab a 4-0 lead.

The score was tied six times, the last at 10-10 when Grace grabbed the lead on a Lady Jacket hitting error.

Julianna Hill then knocked down six straight service points for a 17-10 lead and it never got any closer.

Autumn Parrott was the key for Grace at the start of the second set as she recorded six straight service points as Grace scored eight of the first nine points.

It never got any closer as Grace took advantage of Alexandra Smith’s power at the net and the Golden Eagles had a 2-0 lead when Lookout Valley finished with a serving error.

The Lady Jackets hung tough at the start of the third set, but a kill from Holley Fulgham broke a 7-7 tie for Grace and Lookout Valley never led again.

The Grace lead was 17-11 when Megan Long knocked down six straight serves for a commanding 23-11 lead and a kill from Julianna Hill a minute later clinched the match for the Golden Eagles.

Smith had 14 kills and 13 digs to lead Grace while Maggie Long had 17 digs and Summer Dean 24 assists.

Bailey Lee had four kills for Lookout Valley while Josse Reed had six digs and Raven Smith six assists.

Sale Creek didn’t waste any time taking charge against Silverdale in the second match as Bailey Nelson recorded nine straight service points.

The Lady Seahawks certainly weren’t ready to surrender as they cut that lead to 15-10 following a kill from Emma Dale, but kills from Sale Creek teammates Madysun Steele and Gracie Janow with a block from Janow in the middle allowed the Lady Panthers to regroup and win the first set.

Silverdale’s best effort came in the second set where five straight points from Kaley James turned a 4-3 Sale Creek lead into an 8-4 advantage for the Lady Seahawks.

A hitting error by Silverdale allowed Sale Creek to tie the score at 12-12 before three straight kills from Ariana Smith a minute later allowed the Lady Panthers to surge ahead at 16-12.

A hitting error by Sale Creek tied the score at 22-22, but Silverdale lost a point when they ran into the net and Steele had a key block for a 24-22 lead.  An ace from Abbey Burton clinched the set for Sale Creek.

The Lady Panthers then scored the first three points of the third set and never trailed.  A tip from Tayla Willis was the winning point as Sale Creek withstood Silverdale’s best effort.

“I was a little bit worried that their size up front might cause us some problems.  It did, but we responded well when we got behind and we’re just happy to be moving on,” said Sale Creek coach Debbie Shipley, who was thrilled to have her 94-year-old mother Lucille Shipley Ewing there cheering on the Lady Panthers.

“All of these girls stepped up, but we had some unsung heroes like Abbey Burton, Tayla Willis and Jayda Perry who really came through.  I think we beat Grace in the Hixson tournament at the beginning of the season, but it was close and I’m sure that tomorrow night will be another battle with them,” Hill nodded.

Silverdale coach Nathan Daugherty certainly didn’t like Monday night’s results, but the fact that his team was even in the region made him a happy fellow.

“We have such a young team this year and they’ve come so far, but we just couldn’t find a way to put it all together tonight,” he said after his team’s season ended with a 17-17 record.

“We’ve really been through a lot this fall with injuries, but the fact they made it this far is a testament to their hard work and determination.  We’ve got to be better than we were tonight and we have to be more disciplined, but we knew that Sale Creek would be tough as they are a fine team.

“Things just didn’t work out for us tonight,” Daugherty added.

Smith had 15 kills and 15 digs to lead Sale Creek while Burton had 15 digs too in addition to nine kills.  Nelson finished with 25 assists.

Morgan Weatherford also had 33 digs for the Lady Panthers.

LOOKOUT VALLEY STATS:

Tennille Rogers – 2 aces, 1 kill, 6 digs

Caitlin Pruitt – 3 kills, 3 digs, 2 blocks

Bailey Lee – 4 kills, 1 block

Raven Smith – 6 assists, 3 digs, 1 block

Haven Haines – 1 dig, 1 assist

Josse Reed – 1 kill, 6 digs

Savannah Rains – 1 ace

Scarlette Hamrick – 2 aces, 8 digs.

GRACE STATS:

Autumn Parrott – 2 kills, 3 aces, 5 digs

Lexie Mullins – 2 kills, 1 dig

Megan Long – 3 kills, 2 aces, 7 digs, 1 block

Summer Dean – 4 kills, 3 digs, 24 assists

Holley Fulgham – 2 kills

Maggie Long – 1 ace, 17 digs

Alexandra Smith – 14 kills, 2 aces, 13 digs

Julianna Hill – 2 kills, 4 digs

Abby McGaughey – 5 digs.

SILVERDALE STATS:

Falyn Blalock -- 7 digs, 1 kill, 4 assists

Emma Dale -- 3 digs, 2 aces, 2 blocks, 3 kills

Savannah Gann -- 1 dig, 4 assists

Kenzie Manning -- 2 kills

Kayleigh Page -- 1 dig, 1 block, 1 kill

Katie Patrick -- 3 blocks 2 kills

Gracie Pierce -- 10 digs, 1 ace

Lexi Vogel -- 2 digs.

SALE CREEK STATS:

Ariana Smith – 15 kills, 15 digs, 1 ace, 3 blocks

Abbey Burton – 9 kills, 15 digs, 2 aces, 1 block

Gracie Janow – 10 kills, 2 digs, 8 blocks

Bailey Nelson – 3 digs, 25 assists, 2 aces

Tayla Willis – 5 kills, 4 digs, 3 blocks

Morgan Weatherford – 33 digs

Avery Cox – 1 dig, 1 ace

Sydney Gibson – 5 digs, 2 assists

Jayda Perry – 6 digs, 11 assists, 1 ace

Madysun Steele – 6 kills, 2 digs, 2 blocks.

(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)