Signal Mountain Falls To Knox Catholic In AA Final

Lady Eagles Finish Second After Losing 3-0 To Lady Irish

  • Friday, October 21, 2016
  • John Hunt
Kate Barry of Signal Mountain sets the ball for a teammate in the Lady Eagles' Class 2A championship match loss to Knox Catholic. Signal Mountain fell in straight sets (18-25, 13-25, 19-25) at MTSU's Murphy Center in Murfreesboro. Barry had 17 assists and 11 digs in the match.
Kate Barry of Signal Mountain sets the ball for a teammate in the Lady Eagles' Class 2A championship match loss to Knox Catholic. Signal Mountain fell in straight sets (18-25, 13-25, 19-25) at MTSU's Murphy Center in Murfreesboro. Barry had 17 assists and 11 digs in the match.
photo by Dennis Norwood

MURFREESBORO – There were five state championships awarded for high school volleyball at MTSU’s Murphy Center Friday, but none of them came back to Chattanooga.

Baylor finished second to Briarcrest while Signal Mountain also had to settle for the runner-up award after losing in three straight sets to Knoxville Catholic.

The Lady Irish, improving to 32-11 for the season, won by scores of 25-18, 25-13 and 25-19.  The Lady Eagles finish an outstanding season at 47-10.

Signal Mountain appeared ready to play, but the Irish seemed to have an answer for everything the Lady Eagles attempted.  After such an emotional day on Thursday when Signal Mountain didn’t lose a set and avoided elimination by winning all three of their matches, they simply could not match that same intensity a day later.

“I’m just happy we made it to the championship match after we lost the first one, but it just didn’t go how we had wanted,” said Signal Mountain coach Jennifer Redman after the match ended.

“These girls worked really hard this year and to get back to the championship match after that first day is really awesome.  Catholic has a great team and they were on today, so you can’t take anything away from them.

“We surely didn’t play our best, but we could have crumbled at any point yesterday.  We have nothing to hang our heads about as the only AA teams we lost to this year were in this tournament.  But we knew it would be really hard to match yesterday’s emotion two days in a row,” Redman added.

Brent Carter is in his second year as the Catholic head coach.  His team finished second last year, so winning it all the second time around was really satisfying to him.

“We’re just excited to finally get it done, but nobody could have convinced me that we could have beaten them in three straight.  We were third two years ago, second last year and finally got it done today.  It feels fantastic.

“As long as we play in control and make good passes, we’re hard to beat, but these girls have worked so hard and for them to not lose a set this week is huge.  We work really hard in practice to not ever let a ball hit the floor and that made a difference today.

“I don’t think this was our best match by any stretch, but it was certainly our most rewarding,” he concluded.

The Lady Irish never trailed in the first set and were only behind on the first point of the second after Signal’s Aubrie Johnson recorded one of her 11 kills.

It was obvious after the first two sets that it just wasn’t Signal Mountain’s day, but the Lady Eagles kept battling and actually played their best in the final one.

Catholic scored the first two points before Signal Mountain regained the advantage.  The Lady Irish didn’t regain the lead until Kamila Cieslik had one of her 19 kills that made the score 18-17.

Olivia Powers had a block to help the Lady Eagles tie the score at 19-19, but the Lady Irish then scored the final six points to claim the match.

Johnson had 11 kills for Signal Mountain while Kate Barry had 17 assists and 11 digs.

Cieslik had 19 kills and 13 digs for Catholic and was rewarded as the tournament MVP for her effort.

Olivia Kozemoko had 21 assists and eight digs while Meredith Bonee had 14 assists and seven digs.  Olivia Cunningham finished the match with 15 digs and three aces.

SIGNAL MOUNTAIN STATS:

Nicole Terfloth – 9 digs

Elaine Redman – 4 kills, 9 digs, 1 block

Aubrie Johnson – 11 kills, 1 dig, 1 block assist

Kate Barry – 2 kills, 17 assists, 1 ace, 11 digs, 3 block assists

Mackenzie Lewis – 1 dig

Hallie Hunt – 4 digs

Maia Rackel – 6 kills, 4 digs, 4 block assists

Sidney Lapinski – 1 kill, 7 assists, 5 digs

Olivia Powers – 2 kills, 1 block, 2 digs, 2 block assists

Cora Hansen – 2 kills, 1 dig.

(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)

Signal Mountain's Aubrie Johnson (4) slams home one of her 11 kills in the Lady Eagles' loss.
Signal Mountain's Aubrie Johnson (4) slams home one of her 11 kills in the Lady Eagles' loss.
photo by Dennis Norwood
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