The All-District 5-3A regular season volleyball team was honored Monday night at Walker Valley High School.
photo by Richard Roberts/Cleveland Daily Banner
CLEVELAND, Tenn. – Second-seeded Ooltewah was expected to handily beat No. 7 McMinn County on Monday in the District 5-3A volleyball tournament at Walker Valley High School.
No surprise there.
The Lady Owls turned their on-court superiority into a 3-0 cakewalk, beating the Lady Cherokees by scores of 25-4, 25-6, 25-18. The third set was indicative of a letdown by Ooltewah. Coach Elaine Peigen used reserves almost entirely in the finale.
Ooltewah (32-15), the four-time defending champion, advanced to Tuesday’s semifinals and will play host Walker Valley (15-10) at 6:30 p.m.
The No. 3 Lady Mustangs swept No. 6 Bradley Central, 25-18, 25-14 and 25-13.
Nothing out of the ordinary in that one either.
In the day’s opener on a three-match card, Soddy-Daisy’s No. 5 Lady Trojans pulled a mild upset over No. 4 East Hamilton, 3-1. The set scores were 25-18, 18-25, 25-20, 25-20.
OK, maybe an alarm bell went off.
The Lady Trojans catch No. 1 Cleveland (31-13) in the other semifinal showdown on Tuesday.
The tournament championship game is scheduled for Wednesday at 6 p.m.
“We didn’t take McMinn lightly,” said Ooltewah’s Sidney Killingsworth, who had seven kills, four aces and three digs against the Lady Cherokees. “When you do that nothing good happens.”
Ooltewah (32-15) jumped out to a quick 8-0 lead in the first set, stretched it to 13-2 and then 23-3 before Shelby Sutton ripped a kill and a service point to wrap up the 25-4 rout.
It was more of the same in Set 2.
Ooltewah steamrolled the Lady Cherokees to build a 15-4 advantage, extended the margin to 19-5 and ran off the final six points to finish off a 25-6 win.
“They jumped on us right away,” McMinn County coach Lynn Monroe said. “And we’re not very good at crawling out from under a rock. I wish we could have played them better. To even play them close, we would have to play our very best.”
Up safely at 2-0, coach Elaine Peigen turned the third set over to reserve players.
“Most of us rested up for the next game,” said Killingsworth, who was selected as the regular season Co-MVP, along with Cleveland’s Emma Flowers, at last Friday’s coaches’ meeting to finalize plans for the tournament. “And we didn’t want to show Walker Valley anything to pick up on. We’ll have to play our best in that one.
“We used the weekend (the Lady Owls competed in the Middle Tennessee Classic in Murfreesboro on Friday and Saturday) to prepare for our tournament and we finished higher than we thought we would.”
The Lady Owls, who had won three straight regular season titles until be dethroned by Cleveland this season, built a 22-9 lead with the reserves in Set 3. It was 23-11 when the Lady Cherokees scored seven of the next eight points.
Mackenzie Hill’s serve soared beyond the backline to give Ooltewah the match-ending 25th point.
They quietly packed up their bags and headed home.
“Once I knew the starters were playing well, we gave the other girls an opportunity to play in the district tournament,” Peigen said. “McMinn is a much-improved team. Last week when we played them we missed 21 serves and that’s a lot. I think we missed one or two tonight.”
Soddy-Daisy 3, East Hamilton 1: The Lady Trojans (22-30) sent an early message, bolting to a 17-10 lead before the Lady Hurricanes began to claw back. Three straight Soddy-Daisy unforced errors allowed the Lady ‘Canes to pull within 17-13.
Courtney Daughtrey’s service point gave Soddy-Daisy a 21-14 advantage and the spread was 22-16 when East Hamilton scored on back-to-back Lady Trojans miscues. Soddy-Daisy scored on an East Hamilton error. Rachel Rader and Sierrah Lemons each scored on kills to give the Lady Trojans the first set.
In Set 2, East Hamilton took a 16-9 lead on Hillary English’s service point, but the Lady Trojans chipped away and trailed by 20-18. The Lady Hurricanes (17-22) scored the final five points – three came on a service point and kill by freshman Madison Hayes and Raine Phillips’ slap, plus two unforced errors by the Lady Trojans.
The third set was tied 15-15 when Soddy-Daisy ran off seven straight points, including three by Rader, to build a 22-15 lead. Mattie Thomas later scored on a cross-court kill to win the set and give Soddy-Daisy a 2-1 lead.
“We felt really good about this match,” said Soddy-Daisy’s Gracie Ratledge, who had six kills and three blocks in the match. “We split with East Hamilton during the season we believed in ourselves and came out strong in the third after we lost the second.”
Soddy-Daisy trailed 16-11 in the fourth, but went on an 11-4 run and took a 22-18 lead. Rader, credited with six kills and nine digs, had a block and kill for the final two points in the spree.
It was 23-20 after Hayes’ kill. Rader ripped a kill and Cameren Swafford added a service point for the final two points to finish off the match.
“This was probably our best match in a while,” said Swafford, who had 16 kills, nine digs and two aces. “The last few years we didn’t even last past the first round. We were underdogs in this match, but we proved we can do it. No one should underestimate us.”
Said coach Libby Peigen, “We game-planned until about 8:30 last night and we were effective today. East Hamilton has improved and we have too. We stayed mentally tough and found our groove.”
Hayes led the Lady ‘Canes statistically with 13 digs, 12 kills and four aces and left the gymnasium disappointed.
“The loss was tough on all of us,” she said. “We need to bond more as a team and get ready for next year. I didn’t want our volleyball season to end like this, but (Tuesday) I’ll get back with the basketball team.”
East Hamilton coach Brian Wood didn’t think his team matched Soddy-Daisy’s quick start out of the gate.
“We didn’t play well early and as a result they set the tone for the match,” he said. “That’s a good team over there. Give them any type of momentum and they’ll take it and run with it. This was one of those nights you wish you could have a do-over.
“We just didn’t have it and unfortunately it ended our season.”
Walker Valley 3, Bradley Central 0: Kaley Walker and Julia McGuire combined for 23 kills as the Lady Mustangs (15-10) zipped past the Bearettes (7-25). Walker had 12 kills.
Now, Walker Valley and Ooltewah are looking at their fourth meeting of the season. The Lady Owls won two of the three previous matchups by 3-2 and 3-1 scores. Walker Valley pulled out a 2-1 win in a regular season tournament.
“We’re going to try and stay focused and get where we want to be at the end of the week,” Lady Mustangs coach Judy Pruett said. “Bradley played well and stayed with us early, but we pulled away in each game. I’m proud of the girls for the way they finished.”
STATISTICS
Ooltewah
Macy Milliken – 16 assists, 1 kill, 4 digs
Jadyn Raschke – 5 aces, 6 digs
Sydney Alleman – 2 kills, 3 assists, 1 kill, 1 ace
Aubbie Collake – 1 kill, 1 dig
Sidney Killings worth – 7 kills, 4 aces, 3 digs
Courtney Swafford – 1 kill, 4 aces, 7 digs
Shelby Sutton – 5 kills, 2 aces, 5 digs
Cheyanne Sales – 4 kills
Anna Maria Novelli – 2 kills, 1 ace, 4 digs, 1 block
Ally Chernak – 3 assists, 2 digs
Audrey Jennings – 2 kills
Marrissa Forrester – 4 digs
Mabry Carpenter – 2 aces, 8 digs
Madeline Mills – 1 kill, 1 dig
McMinn County
No stats available
Soddy-Daisy
Kyleigh Ward – 3 kills, 5 assists, 2 digs, 1 ace
Taylor Uren – 5 digs
Sierrah Lemons – 3 kills, 1 block
Kirstie Williams – 1 kill, 32 assists, 6 digs, 2 aces
Cameren Swafford – 16 kills, 9 digs, 1 ace
Rachel Rader – 6 kills, 9 digs, 1 ace
Kylie Brincks – 11 digs, 1 ace
Kelsey Henderson – 5 kills, 2 digs
Courtney Daughtrey – 3 digs, 2 aces
Gracie Ratledge – 6 kills, 1 assist, 3 blocks, 1 dig
East Hamilton
Emma Mitchell – 4 kills, 1 dig
Hilliary English – 3 aces, 3 kills, 13 digs
Jayla Price – 6 digs
Jordyn Griffith – 3 kills, 2 digs
Lillie Hardy – 2 kills, 1 dig
Madison Hayes – 4 aces, 12 kills, 13 digs
Raine Phillips – 2 kills, 2 digs
Somer Batten – 1 kill, 17 digs
Sydney Batten – 3 digs
Walker Valley
Carly Buckner – 5 digs.
Hannah Calfee – 3 kills, 4 digs
Kate Essenburg – 4 kills, 15 assists, 2 aces
Rylee Lawson – 2 digs
Aly Grace Lemons – 4 kills, 1 assist, 6 digs, 2 aces
Julia McGuire – 11 kills, 1 assist, 5 digs
Megan Malone – 5 digs
Hannah Grace Moore – 17 assists, 11 digs, 2 aces
Macy Nipper – 2 kills
Kaley Walker – 12 kills, 1 block, 12 digs, 1ace
Alice Woolson – 9 digs.
Tuesday’s Schedule
Semifinals
Soddy-Daisy vs. Cleveland, 5 p.m.
Walker Valley vs. Ooltewah, 6:30 p.m.
All-District 5-3A Team (Regular Season)
Co-MVP – Emma Flowers, Cleveland; Sidney Killingsworth, Ooltewah
Cleveland – Anna Renshaw, Amber Morman, Lauren Lee
Ooltewah – Courtney Swafford, Macy Milliken, Shelby Sutton
Walker Valley – Kaley Walker, Hannah Grace Moore, Kate Essenburg
East Hamilton – Madison Hayes, Hillary English
Soddy-Daisy – Cameron Swafford, Kristie Williams
Bradley Central – Reagan Morrison, Savannah Carroll
Honorable Mention
Ooltewah – Jadyn Raschke, Aubbie Collake; Walker Valley – Aly Grace Lemons; East Hamilton – Somer Batten; Soddy-Daisy – Kyleigh Ward, Rachael Rader, Gracie Ratledge; McMinn County – Elizabeth Wiley, Francessa Rosi.
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)