Cleveland's Emma flowers tips the ball over the net against Siegel's Sophia Bossong (25). The Lady Raiders fell to the Lady Stars, 3-0, before ripping Ravenwood, 3-1, in a loser's bracket match to keep their hopes alive in the state volleyball tournament in Murfreesboro. Flowers had 27 kills and 16 digs against the Lady Raptors. Cleveland faces Farragut at 10:30 Thursday morning in MTSU's Murphy Center.
photo by Dennis Norwood
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Cleveland wasn’t ready to go home.
Beaten in their inaugural appearance in the 2016 TSSAA Class 3A state volleyball tournament earlier in the day, Cleveland stormed back to defeat Ravenwood 3-1 on Wednesday and remain alive in the three-day tourney at Middle Tennessee State University.
The Lady Blue Raiders (39-14) dropped the first set – it was their fourth straight loss of the day – and then put together three straight wins over the Lady Raptors on Court 1 at the Murphy Center.
Set scores were 27-29, 23-25, 23-25, 25-27 in a match as tight as the number indicate.
“I think the first loss to Ravenwood was a wake-up call,” Cleveland coach Patricia Flowers said. “I can’t say we played our best volleyball, but we fought harder, served better and a couple of adjustments to the lineup helped us a lot.
“But a win is a win.”
On Thursday, Cleveland will play Farragut (43-5) in the Murphy Center at 10 a.m. CT. Farragut lost to 11-time champion Brentwood 3-1.
The Lady Blue Raiders stuck around after their win to watch the Brentwood-Farragut match.
“Farragut is good,” said junior Emma Flowers, who had 27 kills and 16 digs versus the Lady Raptors. “We have to show up and play our best.”
Earlier in the day, Cleveland suffered a 3-0 sweep at the hands of Siegel in the program’s first trip to Murfreesboro. Set scores were 25-17, 25-17, 25-21.
Cleveland, which reached the tournament by winning five straight postseason matches in district, region and sectional action, appeared shaken after the first-set loss to the Lady Raptors (25-14) – they lost earlier to Hardin Valley 3-0.
Instead of folding their tent, however, the Lady Raiders bowed their back and scratched and clawed to play another day.
“This feels really good,” said Flowers, a junior middle hitter. “We finally picked up our play in the last three games. The first (match) felt different. We didn’t know what to expect and the first set of the second match was a wake-up call.”
Ravenwood owned the first game, surging to a 14-3 lead – the Lady Raptors scored 10 straight points to build the early advantage – and ending it when Cleveland’s Emma Flowers sent a slap shot into the net.
In Set 2, the Lady Raiders trailed 8-6, but began to show spunk and worked themselves into a 14-11 lead. Moments later Ravenwood had a 20-16 lead on the strength of a 6-0 scoring binge. The Lady Raptos went up 24-20, but the Lady Raiders scored four straight points – the final two on Flowers kills – to tie the set.
Ravenwood led 27-26.
No sweat.
Cleveland scored three straight points – two came on Lady Raptor errors – and libero Lauren Lee served an ace to get the Lady Raiders on the board.
In the third set, the two teams fought back and forth before Ravenwood went up 13-12. Cleveland went on an 8-1 run and enjoyed a 20-14 point spread.
Later, a Ravenwood error gave the Lady Raiders a 23-20 lead. Alexandria Kirby scored on a tip and serve – it would have sailed long, but a Cleveland player deflected the ball out of bounds – and the Lady Raptors moved to within 23-22.
A Renshaw kill gave Cleveland a 24-22 lead. Kimberly Smithson scored to keep Ravenwood alive. An unforced error by Ravenwood gave Cleveland its 25th point and a 2-1 lead.
“I think our lineup adjustments put some necessary pressure on our seniors to play better,” coach Flowers said.
In Set 4, Ravenwood went up 21-16 and appeared to be on the verge of extending the match to a deciding fifth set.
Amber Morman scored on a tip and when Smithson’s shot went long the Lady Raiders moved to within 21-18. Smithson’s kill gave Ravenwood a 24-20 cushion.
At that point, Cleveland came up with some true grit.
A Ravenwood error started a 5-0 burst. Flowers had kills off Lauren Lee assists. Ravenwood’s Skye Myers sent a kill beyond the backline. Lee served an ace.
An Anna Renshaw double hit tied the match.
Flowers’ one-handed push gave Cleveland a 26-25 edge.
Renshaw’s slap shot clinched the historic victory. She finished with 14 digs, five kills and one ace.
“Cleveland teams in the past have always struggled with finishing matches,” coach Flowers said. “This group is doing a lot of that. The girls play with a lot of heart. I told them before the match that this is going to be over in a day or two. What’s another day or two? You can rest later.
“They went into the match with the right mentality. I’m proud of the whole team.”
Libero Lauren Lee recorded 30 digs for the Lady Raiders after getting 24 against Siegel.
In the earlier match, the Lady Raiders weren’t bad, but solid. They weren’t great, but hung tough.
That wasn’t enough though.
“Well, the first-game jitters are out of the way,” said coach Flowers, who in her 16th season guided Cleveland the state tourney. “I had people tell me not to settle with just getting here. But I don’t think the girls realize they can be a top four team over here. I don’t feel Siegel is a better team than Cleveland.
“I don’t think our girls were as nervous as they were in region, but this is a different environment the girls aren’t used to playing in. The positive thing is they know they deserve to be here and can beat a team like Siegel. Siegel is a good team and I think we could have given them a better game had we passed better.”
Cleveland was on a 5-0 postseason entering Thursday’s action, including capturing District 5-3A, Region 3-3A and Class 3A sectional titles. Siegel (42-8) played consistently throughout the morning match and took advantage of the sub-par Cleveland passing off serves.
“We have to come out and play our game,” said Emma Flowers, the district regular season co-MVP and district and region tournament MVP. “We didn’t play with much confidence against Siegel. Jitters might have been a little of that, but I’m confident we’ll come out and play better in our next game.”
She came into the quarterfinal match averaging 23.4 kills, 11.6 digs, 6.4 assists and 3.4 aces in the postseason.
Against Siegel, Flowers had 17 kills, nine digs and four assists.
Siegel senior Leah Poarch was the Lady Stars’ most potent weapon – she and Flowers both wear No. 21 on their jersey – and gave Cleveland problems with power kills at the net.
Cleveland hunt with Siegel in the first two sets before the Lady Stars put together strong finishes in both for a quick 2-0 lead.
Back-to-back kills by Flowers in the opener gave Cleveland a 16-15 lead.
Siegel, which now has a 19-18 state tournament record while still looking for its first championship, scored 10 of the final 11 points for the win.
Poarch had three kills down the stretch.
“We knew she was a good hitter,” Trish Flowers said. “We played good defense and we dug up some balls during the game to give us good momentum. We just could not make consistent passes off the serve.”
In Set 2, Cleveland was up 14-12 when the Lady Stars six straight points – Poarch had two kills and senior Hannah Adams added two aces in the spree.
Set 3 was different.
The Lady Stars scored 10 of the first 12 points before the Lady Raiders began scratching back.
Siegel had a 20-15 advantage when Amber Morman registered her only kill of the match. Back-to-back Cleveland errors and Poarch’s ace pushed the Lady Stars’ lead back out to 23-15.
The Lady Raiders scored six of the next seven points. Two Siegel errors started the spree and then Morgan Moffett had a spike, Hannah Longley scored on a kill, Longley’s serve sailed long and two straight Flowers kills pulled Cleveland to within 24-21.
Siegel’s Adams scored on a match-clinching kill.
“Our loss came on passing off serves,” coach Flowers said. “If you get us out of system, it’s harder to set up the offense. It’s nice to have a hitter like Emma, but you can’t win a match without good passes to your setters.
“We lost this match by 20 points and we had 10 ball-handling errors. That’s half of those points.”
Cleveland Stats vs. Siegel
Amber Morman – 1 kill
Anna Renshaw – 2 aces, 7 digs, 4 kills, 19 assists
Emma Flowers – 9 digs, 17 kills, 4 assists
Hannah Longley – 1 ace, 6 digs
Lauren Lee – 24 digs
Morgan Moffett – 1 dig, 4 kills
Sammie Kate Eason – 4 digs
Cleveland Stats vs. Ravenwood
Amber Morman -- 5 kills, 1 dig
Anna Renshaw -- 1 ace, 14 digs, 5 kills
Emma Flowers -- 16 digs, 1 block, 27 kills, 8 assists
Hannah Longley -- 3 aces, 11 digs
Lauren Lee -- 1 ace, 30 digs
Jessi Towe -- 1 ace, 1 dig, 1 kill
Morgan Moffett -- 2 digs, 5 kills
Regan Fuller -- 3 digs, 2 kills
Sophie Lakatosh -- 2 aces, 1 dig
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)