CLEVELAND, Tenn. – For Cleveland’s volleyball team, 2016 turned into a season of firsts.
First Region 3-3A tournament championship, check.
First time to host a sectional, check.
First time to win a sectional match, check
First trip to a state tournament, check.
“It’s almost surreal,” Cleveland coach Patricia Flowers said amid the raucous celebration going around her. “It hasn’t hit me yet that we’re going to Murfreesboro. That’s a pretty big deal.”
But, it’s not a dream. It’s for real.
Cleveland (36-13) defeated Oakland 3-1 on Thursday before a raucous crowd at Raider Arena to earn a spot in the Class 3A state tournament and when the Lady Blue Raiders take the court against Siegel at Middle Tennessee State University’s Murphy Center on Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. CT at they’ll be making history.
Set scores were 25-18, 25—23, 22-25, 25-16.
“I know the competition will be good, but if we play the way we’ve been playing I think we’ll do pretty good,” said junior Emma Flowers, who set a school record with 34 kills against Oakland (22-17).
That broke her own mark of 31 set on Tuesday in a 3-1 victory over Cookeville for the Region 3-3A championship.
Flowers was the MVP in the district and region tournaments and if one were handed out in the sectional round, she would have won that too. She shared the regular season MVP honors with Ooltewah’s Sidney Killingsworth.
“No, I haven’t played any better than I did tonight,” she said, with tears rolling down her face. “It’s the best our team has played this season too. I knew I’d have to put the ball down and I had to show up be ready to play. I have to give my teammates a shoutout because they relied on me and I knew with all my heart I needed to play for them.
“And we fought the whole time.”
Flowers’ stat line looked like this: one ace, 10 digs, 34 kills, five assists. She now has 729 kills this season with at least a few more games this year and her senior season to come.
The hard-smashing, athletic Flowers, who rarely comes off the court, had the visiting Lady Patriots’ defense on its heels most of the night and went through post-match interviews with an ice pack wrapped around her right shoulder.
“It’s sore, but it’s going to be fine,” she said. “I promise you.”
Next week marks the first time a team from Bradley County has appeared in the state tournament since Bradley Central went in 1995.
“This is huge for our program,” coach Flowers said. “It’s huge for Cleveland, huge for these girls to experience a state tournament and these seniors, oh, my goodness, every senior class dreams of a year like this.”
Obviously, the younger Flowers didn’t beat Oakland by herself.
The rest of the Lady Raiders played up to Flowers’ high caliber and there were some other superlative stats as well.
Anna Renshaw had 37 assists.
Lauren Lee was credited with 31 digs.
“We (seniors) have never gotten past district before,” said Lee, a senior libero. “But to be district and region champs, to win sectionals and go to state is incredible. It’s definitely a season to remember and I’ll never forget this experience.”
The Lady Raiders’ current run is something to behold. They have captured five straight postseason matches and won 15 of 19 sets.
“Tonight the girls just played with their hearts,” said coach Flowers, who is in her 16th year at Cleveland. “It was a team effort tonight and everyone was contributing. The seniors are shining, the girls are playing together and know what needs to happen and they’re OK with that.”
In addition to Lee, the other Lady Raiders seniors are Regan Fuller, Morgan Moffett, Jessi Towe, Amber Morman and Sammie Kate Eason.
It appeared Cleveland had a few jitters in the first set. Renshaw’s match-opening serve found nothing but net. Flowers’ first kill shot hit net, her first serve suffered the same fate and after a Morman kill Flowers’ netted a slap and a few points later another kill fell harmlessly to the floor after striking the net.
With the scored tied 18-18 and with Lee serving, the Lady Raiders went on a 7-0 run – Oakland helped by committing five errors, including the first four points, to trigger the spurt – and closed out the set at 25-18.
Lee got her only ace for the 23rd point and after an unforced error by the Lady Patriots, Flowers ripped a set-ending kill.
In fact, Flowers ended each of Cleveland’s three victorious sets with a kill.
“I have confidence in my serving,” said Lee, who has 811 digs this season. “I’ve been struggling a little more than usual this year, but I just go out there trying to get those hard serves in. I don’t want to give in, but there are times I’d rather get a soft serve in than serve a hard one that goes out.”
Oakland, the Region 4-3A runner-up that finished its season 22-17 under second year coach Jessica Garcia, who played volleyball at UT-Chattanooga for one year in 2008 before transferring to MTSU, had a 13-12 lead in the second set.
However, the Lady Raiders mixed a Flowers kill and a Towe ace with three Lady Patriot errors and zipped into an 18-13 advantage. Three straight Cleveland miscues – two kills by Fuller that sailed lone and a communication error – preceded a spike by Oakland’s Briley Jarrell.
Suddenly, Cleveland’s five-point edge was down to one.
It was nip-and-tuck the rest of the way until Flowers’ kill ended the set with Cleveland on top 25-23.
In Set 3, Cleveland built an 8-2 lead, watched Oakland rally to tie it at 8-all. With the Lady Raiders up 13-11, the Lady Patriots scored five straight points, including three kills by Kara Nelms, to take a 16-13 lead.
Trailing 18-17, Morman had a kill, Flowers added an ace, Morman slammed another kill and Cleveland again had the lead at 20-18.
Oakland registered seven of the next nine points – Jessica Paden scored on five kills – to win 25-22 and stay alive.
But Cleveland, never losing its intensity at any point, although there were moments when some players looked weary, found resolve in Set 4.
“As a team this was our best game of the season,” said Renshaw, who added 11 digs to her whopping 37 assists. “We definitely had the most energy we’ve had all year and knew we could win.”
She was right.
Oakland raced to a 5-0 lead, but minutes later Cleveland was out front 11-9. When the Lady Patriots’ Nelms scored on a tap, the Lady Raiders went on a ferocious tear and scored 10 of the final 12 points – without any help from the opponent’s mistakes – to seal the trip to Murfreesboro.
Renshaw had four points in the offensive outburst. Flowers rammed five kills down Oakland’s throat and Moffett blocked a Jada Ballard kill.
Now, it’s on to state.
It will be uncharted territory for the Lady Raiders, but coming out of the sectional on such a high they believe good things can happen at the MTSU campus starting on Wednesday.
“We’ve played some of the teams that will be over there and they’re good,” said Renshaw, who pushed her season assist mark to 776 in Thursday’s big win. “With the heart we showed tonight, I think we can go over there and make a bang.”
STATISTICS
Cleveland
Amber Morman – 2 digs, 8 kills
Anna Renshaw – 5 aces, 11 digs, 5 kills, 37 assists
Emma Flowers – 1 ace, 10 digs, 34 kills, 5 assists
Hannah Longley – 1 ace, 6 digs, 1 kill, 5 assists
Jessi Towe – 4 aces, 6 digs
Lauren Lee – 1 ace, 31 digs, 5 assists
Morgan Moffett – 3 digs, 7 kills, 1 assist
Regan Fuller – 1 ace, 2 digs, 1 kill
Sammie Kate Eason – 3 digs
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)