Signal Mountain, Red Bank Earn State Volleyball Spots

The Chattanooga area will be well represented in the Class AA portion of the TSSAA State Volleyball Tournament next week in Murfreesboro.

Region 4-AA champ Signal Mountain advanced with a 3-0 win over Hixson while Region 3-AA winner Red Bank also extended its season with a hard-fought 3-2 victory over the Upperman Lady Bees.

Signal Mountain, improving to 43-8 overall following Thursday night’s sectional victory, didn’t have a whole lot of problem getting past Hixson with scores of 25-11, 25-14 and 25-20.

Red Bank wasn’t as fortunate as the Lionettes won the first set 25-18 before dropping the next two by scores of 25-17 and 25-22.  The pep talk at that point must have worked because Red Bank came back to win the final two sets by scores of 25-17 and 15-5.

Signal Mountain once again played without Aubrie Johnson, their leading hitter who has been sidelined with a dislocated thumb, but the Lady Eagles were able to keep winning without her.  She’ll be released from the doctor on Monday, just in time for the season-ending tournament that begins on Wednesday morning.

The Lady Eagles set the tone early as they scored the first six points before a kill from Hixson’s Shelby Rector snapped the streak.  Another kill from younger sister Abby Rector closed the gap to 12-7 before the Lady Eagles regained control with five straight points.

A kill from Maia Rackel was the winning point in the first set for the Lady Eagles.

A kill from Dakota Rawiszer followed by a block from the spunky junior gave Hixson a 2-1 lead in the second set.  Another kill from Rawiszer kept the visitors ahead at 3-2, but the Lady Eagles got nine straight service points from Hallie Hunt for a 12-3 advantage.

A kill from Signal’s Olivia Powers clinched the second set.

Hixson took a 2-0 lead in the third set before Signal Mountain scored the next eight points. It looked like the match would be over without much of a fight, but the Lady Wildcats weren’t ready to surrender.

The Lady Wildcats never regained the lead, but things got interesting when a hitting error by the Lady Eagles allowed Hixson to get within 22-18.

A kill from Powers made it 23-18 before two more hitting mistakes made it even closer at 23-20.  A well-placed tip by Mackenzie Lewis and another kill from Rackel ended the match as the victory celebration began.

“We lost our focus a little bit in that third set as we just decided to quit playing, but I’m really proud of these girls and I feel a whole lot better now,” said Signal Mountain coach Jennifer Redman once the final point had been scored.

“We knew that if we lost this match, our season was over, so we had to come out with our best effort.  We were able to make a few adjustments as we tweaked our defense a little bit, but we were ready to play and we sort of set the tone with six straight points to start the match.

“I’m so glad that Aubrie will be playing next week.  She’s our best hitter and a huge part of our offense.  Having her back will really help, but this will be our fourth straight trip to the state and we’re excited,” she said, noting that her team won a state title in 2010.

Hixson coach Janet Tate knew her girls were huge underdogs in this match, but she really liked the way they kept battling even to the bitter end.

“I loved the way we played that third set.  If only they had played like that in the first two, we may have had a different outcome, but Signal Mountain has an outstanding team and we knew that coming in,” the veteran coach expressed.

“This is our third year to play a sectional match and we don’t have the big gun like we had last year, but we played here three years ago and got whipped.  These seniors remembered that match and we didn’t get embarrassed tonight.

“We weren’t nervous at the start, but we just didn’t execute like we needed to.  But these girls have really improved a lot since the start of the season and I couldn’t ask for more from them,” Tate added.

Rackel finished with a double-double to lead the Lady Eagles, which included 12 kills and a dozen digs.  Sidney Lapinski matched 14 digs with 14 assists while Kate Barry had 15 assists.  Lapinski and Lewis both had three aces.

Abby Rector and Rawiszer both had five kills for Hixson while Rachel Cline had 10 digs and Sam Dove 10 assists.

Hixson’s season ends at 17-20.

Red Bank’s Hannah Wood, who was the MVP of the region tournament on Tuesday, played one of her biggest matches ever on Thursday night and finished with a triple-double to lead the Lionettes, getting credit for 14 kills, 15 digs and 19 assists.  She also had four blocks and a kill on the match point.

Savannah Nelson is Red Bank’s first-year coach who had all the faith in the world that her girls could and would come back.  Her feelings were justified as Thursday’s victory improved their record to 23-18 and punched their ticket to next week’s gathering in Murfreesboro.

“That took a lot longer than I really wanted, but I think I was wanting them to win just as bad as they did,” Nelson began.

“Nobody wanted to play Signal Mountain.  We played consistent volleyball tonight like the past couple of weeks and I told them after the third set that we had to believe and to have hope in each other.  I knew we could do it.

“We made a lot of hitting errors in that second set, but we able to correct those.  I made motel reservations last week as I had the confidence we could make it.  We went to the state tournament all four years I played here and I don’t know any other way,” Nelson concluded with a smile.

While Wood was the catalyst, Shelby Romans was also instrumental with 16 assists, 10 digs and eight kills.  Majorie Smith had a dozen kills, 11 digs and nine blocks while Maris Rennolds finished with a dozen digs, nine kills and four blocks.  Cassidy Payne had 22 digs.

HIXSON STATS:

Courtney Jones – 1 kill, 1 block, 7 digs

Sam Dove – 1 kill, 10 assists, 6 digs

Sam McKee – 2 aces, 2 kills, 1 dig

Dakota Rawiszer – 5 kills, 3 blocks, 8 digs

Marly Fitzpatrick – 5 digs

Rachel Cline – 10 digs

Kiera Taylor – 2 kills

Shelby Rector – 1 kill, 3 digs

Gabby Tench – 2 digs, 1 ace

Abby Rector – 5 kills, 1 block, 2 digs.

SIGNAL MOUNTAIN STATS:

Elaine Redman – 5 digs, 1 ace

Nicole Terfloth – 5 digs

Kate Barry – 1 kill, 6 digs, 1 block, 15 assists

Mackenzie Lewis – 1 block, 5 digs, 6 kills, 3 aces

Hallie Hunt – 1 ace, 8 digs

Maia Rackel – 1 block, 12 digs, 12 kills

Sidney Lapinski – 3 aces, 14 digs, 14 assists

Olivia Powers – 4 digs, 10 kills

Cora Hansen – 2 kills, 1 block.

RED BANK STATS:

Marjorie Smith – 4 aces, 12 kills, 9 blocks, 11 digs

Layla Babb – 1 kill, 2 blocks, 4 digs

Shelby Romans – 1 ace, 16 assists, 8 kills, 1 block, 10 digs

Maris Rennolds – 3 aces, 9 kills, 4 blocks, 12 digs

Hannah Wood – 19 assists, 14 kills, 4 blocks, 15 digs

Cassidy Payne – 2 aces, 22 digs

Mya Kennebrew – 2 kills, 5 blocks, 1 dig.

(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)