COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Hopes of an All-District 5-3A volleyball tournament title showdown abruptly ended Monday night when Ooltewah dropped a five-set thriller against Cookeville 3-2 at Cookeville High School.
The Lady Cavaliers, champs from District 6-3A, won the first set, the error-plagued Lady Owls, the 5-3A runners-up, claimed the second and third sets and Cookeville took the final two to pull out the match.
Set scores were 25-22, 20-25, 22-25, 25-23 and 16-14.
Only 15 points separated the two teams, but Cookeville had the edge in sets and eliminated the Lady Owls for the second time in three years.
District 5-3A champion Cleveland defeated Warren County 3-1 and will play Cookeville on Tuesday night at 6 p.m. CDT in the championship match.
The scores were 25-23, 19-25, 6-25 and 12-25.
The Lady Blue Raiders last appeared in the title round in 2010.
By winning Monday, Cleveland and Cookeville are assured of spots in the sectional round on Thursday.
“When we were up 2-1 in the match, all I told the girls is just one more,” Ooltewah coach Elaine Peigen said. “The key is to get ahead and stay ahead. We weren’t able to do that.”
The Lady Owls also battled an unusual element in the semifinal match.
Officials were extremely quick to call double hits and Ooltewah was hit 17 times for that infraction. Cookeville as flagged seven times.
“A couple of them were good calls,” Peigen said, “but the officiating up here was way tighter than we’ve ever seen in Chattanooga.”
Said Aubbie Collake, “It was frustrating for our setters because they were afraid of making mistakes on sets. That didn’t lose the match for us, but we were trying hard to work around it.”
Sidney Killingsworth, who paced the Lady Owls with 21 kills, 2 aces, 6 digs and 4.5 blocks, felt for her up-front teammates’ plight.
“They were trying to figure out what they were doing wrong,” she said.
Several times setter Macy Milliken, who managed 23 assists, 2 aces, 12 digs and 2.5 blocks, was seen looking toward the Ooltewah bench as if trying to pry out coaching tips from the Lady Owls’ staff.
“I looked over there a lot,” Milliken said. “I was trying to shake it off, but that was hard because they were calling so many. I looked at Heidi (assistant coach Moses) several times.”
Every set was a catfight.
In Set 1, Ooltewah had a 13-12 lead, but the Lady Cavs ran off five straight points and only scored offensively on the last two. The Lady Owls were being generous with unforced turnovers.
Cookeville was up 21-16, but Ooltewah scored five of the next six points and trailed 22-21. Cookeville scored two straight points. Killingsworth countered with a kill, but Jerrilee Cobb’s kill gave the Lady Cavs a 1-0 lead.
The Lady Owls righted the ship in the second set
The Lady Owls righted the ship in the second set and raced to a 16-10 advantage, only to see Cookeville storm back for a 15-10 lead. They were still out front at 19-14 when Cookeville took advantage of four straight errors to tie the set.
From 20-all Ooltewah closed out the set with five points in a row. Milliken started the run with a two-hand push and Cookeville tossed in back-to-back errors. Jadyn Raschke added a service point and Cheyanne Sales blocked a Kiuy Masters shot for the 25th point.
Ooltewah continued the roll by wiping out a 15-10 deficit to tie the action. The Lady Owls fell behind 17-15 and went on a 6-1 run and regained the lead at 21-18.
Later, two Cookeville errors put the Lady Owls on the brink of winning at 24-21. A double call gave Cookeville the next point and Ooltewah pulled even at 1-1 in sets when a slap shot by Cookeville’s Grace Roberts sailed long.
“We felt really strong leading 2-1 and thought we could do it again by winning the fourth,” Collake said. “We lost focus like we always do and that hurt us. I don’t have any regrets about the outcome because I believe the entire team gave 110 percent.”
Cookeville came back strong.
The Lady Owls were up 15-12, but the Lady Cavs ran off eight consecutive points. Cookeville was up 23-21 when Milliken dropped a slam and Cookeville’s Driver sent a slam long. An Ooltewah error gave the Lady Cavs their 24th point and Carley Cantrell blocked Anna Maria Novelli to level the match at 2-2.
Nursing an 8-7 lead, Killingsworth went out of the rotation and minutes later Cookeville had a 13-10 advantage. A Roberts kill enabled Cookeville to maintain a three-point lead at 14-11.
Ooltewah withstood three match points with a Killingsworth kill and back-to-back Cookeville errors.
Roberts had a kill and Driver a service point to end the match.
“There was a lack of focus at the end of the fourth and fifth sets,” Killingsworth said. “We had leads but things just didn’t go our way.”
Cleveland 3, Warren County 1: The Lady Pioneers stunned Cleveland in the opening set by overcoming a 23-20 deficit to take a 1-0 lead. Warren County’s final five points resulted from five straight unforced errors by the Lady Blue Raiders.
“I don’t think we were spooked, but we did have pregame jitters,” said Cleveland star Emma Flowers, who finished with a balanced stat line: 10 kills, 10 digs, 10 assists and 8 aces. “We managed to pull it out and that’s all anyone can ask.”
The Lady Pioneers battled hard in the second set, but fell when Cleveland scored eight of the last 12 points. Flowers scored the 22nd point on a dink, but Cleveland made two straight errors. Jessie Towe scored on a push for a 23-19 edge and Warren County’s back-to-back errors gave Cleveland the set.
“Our passing was good and we were serving well and our nerves, probably because this is our first time here in a long time, were bothering us. There was something about this. It felt different from our district games. I’m proud of the girls for winning.”
The third set was all Cleveland.
It was, in fact, a volleyball blowout.
Cleveland scored the first 11 points, benefitting handsomely from four Warren County errors.
A Flowers double – the Lady Raiders were hit with the infraction 10 times – cut the team’s lead to 18-6, but Cleveland scored the final seven points for the win.
Amber Morman got one of her team-high 12 kills and Regan Fuller added two aces. The other points resulted from four Warren County errors, including three doubles.
“We were told (the officials) were calling a lot of doubles before we played,” Cleveland coach Trish Flowers said. “They were really calling them tight. I’ve never seen so many doubles.”
In the final set, Cleveland jumped out to a 14-5, pushed the margin to 20-7 and was up 23-9. Warren County outscored the Lady Raiders 3-1, but an errant Lady Pioneer serve clinched the match.
“We finally figured out where the open shots were and the ‘Ts’ were wide open all night,” Emma Flowers said. “Morgan (Moffett) did an amazing job hitting them.”
Moffett had 11 kills in the match.
STATISTICS
Ooltewah vs. Cookeville
Ooltewah
Macy Milliken – 8 kills, 23 assists, 2 aces, 12 digs, 2.5 blocks
Jadyn Raschke – 1 ace, 9 digs
Aubbie Collake – 2 kills, 1 assist, 1 block
Sidney Killingsworth – 21 kills, 2 aces, 6 digs, 4.5 blocks
Courtney Swafford – 1 kill, 1 ace, 26 digs
Shelby Sutton – 1 kill, 2 aces, 11 digs
Cheyanne Sales – 5 kills, 2 digs, 2.5 blocks
Anna Maria Novelli – 3 digs
Ally Chernak – 2 kills, 4 assists, 2 digs
Mabry Carpenter – 1 ace,
Madeline Mills – 3 digs
Audrey Jennings – 1 dig
Cleveland vs. Warren County
Cleveland
Amber Morman – 12 kills, 1 block
Anna Renshaw – 5 kills, 13 digs, 22 assists, 6 aces
Emma Flowers – 10 kils, 10 digs, 10 assists, 8 aces
Hannah Longley – 10 digs, 1 ace
Jessi Towe – 2 kills, 1 ace, 1 dig, 1 assist
Morgan Moffett – 11 kills
Reagan Fuller – 2 kills, 6 aces, 3 digs
Sammie Kate Eason – 6 digs
Sophia Lakatosh – 1 ace
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)