Well, the seeding for this year’s District 5-3A volleyball tournament held up just fine.
Top-seed Cleveland and No. 2 Ooltewah got past stubborn semifinal opponents with 3-0 sweeps Tuesday night at Walker Valley High School in Cleveland and earned spots in the championship game.
Cleveland (32-13) defeated No. 5 Soddy-Daisy by scores of 25-15, 25-21 and 25-21.
Ooltewah (33-15), the four-time defending tournament champion, had a hard-fought victory over host Walker Valley. The scores were tight: 25-21, 25-21 and 25-22.
The Lady Blue Raiders and Lady Owls, who nailed down berths in the region tournament at Cookeville with their wins, will square off at 6 p.m. on Wednesday for the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds in the Region 3-3A tourney.
First-round region games will be played in Cookeville. Should Cleveland and Ooltewah both win, the championship game would be played at a local site.
“We watched Ooltewah and Walker Valley play and I asked the girls which team they’d rather play,” Cleveland coach Trish Flowers said in a telephone interview. “They really want to play Ooltewah, probably because they’ve been so strong over the years, and they’re a very good team.”
The Lady Owls would like nothing more than to avenge to 3-0 losses to the Lady Blue Raiders during the regular season, including one that ended a 40-plus game winning streak in league play.
“We’re excited to play them again,” Lady Owls coach Elaine Peigen said. “I think we’re playing well right now and we know Cleveland is an excellent team. It should be a very exciting match.”
Ooltewah and Walker Valley have played three times this season with the Lady Owls holding a 2-1 edge. The matches have been battles.
Asked about Tuesday’s contest, Peigen simply said, “We survived.”
The veteran coach said the Lady Owls turned in a solid defensive effort; multiple players made strong contributions to the win and came out ready to play.
“We had a walk through earlier in the day and concentrated on rotations,” Peigen said. “We tell the girls all the time that it doesn’t matter how we’re playing until it gets toward the end of the season.
“Our girls didn’t have a lot of confidence early because they didn’t believe we could win. I wanted this team to be the most improved team when the tournament rolled around.”
Peigen singled out three defenders – Courtney Swafford, Jadyn Raschke and Macy Milliken – for combining for 59 digs. Swafford had 24, Raschke 19 and Milliken 16.
Sidney Killingsworth, the regular season Co-MVP, had 10 kills, 10 digs and three blocks. Cheyanne Sales added five kills and 2.5 blocks.
Emma Flowers, who shared the MVP award with Killingsworth, once again paced the Lady Blue Raiders with 17 kills, 10 digs, six assists and four aces.
“Seventeen kills is a lot in three games,” the Cleveland coach said of her daughter’s effort.
Emma Flowers has been the team’s workhorse the entire season and has blossomed in her junior year to become one of the league’s top players.
The Cleveland coach also gave a “shout out” to junior Morgan Moffett, who had six kills in seven attempts with no errors.
“Morgan has found her niche as a middle hitter,” Trish Flowers said. “She had labrum surgery in November 2015 and was released in May just before summer ball. The surgery affected how much power she had behind her hits. Every week we see improvement in her strength and she’s added an element that we’ve needed.”
Moffett finished with six kills and four blocks. Anna Renshaw added 18 assists and Lauren Lee had 18 digs.
Soddy-Daisy (22-31) drew mixed reviews from coach Libby Peigen, the daughter of Ooltewah’s coach.
“I think we played all right,” she said. “The girls worked really hard. We played as well as we’re going to play and I’m proud of the season we had. Cleveland is a tough team and for us it’s hard to see it was doable regardless of the success they’ve had.
“We’re a pretty young and this puts us in a good position for next year. We’re losing four seniors, but we have a strong sophomore class; several of them played a lot this season.”
STATISTICS
Ooltewah
Macy Milliken – 4 kills, 21 assists, 16 digs
Jadyn Raschke – 1 kill, 1 ace, 19 digs
Aubbie Collake – 3 kills, 4 digs
Sidney Killingsworth – 10 kills, 10 digs, 3 blocks
Courtney Swafford – 1 kill, 2 aces, 24 digs
Shelby Sutton – 3 kills, 19 digs
Cheyanne Sales – 5 kills, 3 digs, 2.5 blocks
Anna Maria Novelli – 1 kill, 3 aces, 1 dig, 1 block
Audrey Jennings – 2 kills, 2 digs
Walker Valley
Carly Buckner – 2 kills, 3 digs
Gaby Burse – 1 dig
Hannah Calfee – 2 kills, 6 digs, 1 ace
Kate Essenburg – 4 kills, 9 assists, 9 digs
Aly Grace Lemons – 8 kills, 2 digs, 2 aces
Megan Malone – 8 digs
Julia McGuire – 6 kills, 2 blocks, 2 digs
Hannah Grace Moore – 10 assists
Macy Nipper – 3 kills, 1 block, 1 assist
Kaley Walker – 1 kill, 2 blocks, 5 digs, 1 ace
Alice Woolson – 7 digs
Soddy-Daisy
Mikayla Phillips – 6 digs
Kyleigh Ward – 1 kill, 9 assists, 4 digs
Kirstie Williams – 7 assists, 1 block, 3 digs, 1 ace
Hannah Rogers – 2 assists, 2 digs
Cameren Swafford – 7 kills, 6 digs, 3 aces
Rachel Rader – 7 kills, 1 block, 5 digs
Kylie Brincks – 4 digs, 1 ace
Kelsey Henderson – 3 kills, 1 dig
Courtney Daughtry – 2 digs
Taylor Uren – 1 dig
Gracie Ratledge – 2 kills, 2 blocks
Cleveland
Amber Morman – 3.5 blocks, 3 digs, 6 kills
Anna Renshaw – 1 ace, 18 digs, 3 kills, 18 assists
Emma Flowers – 17 kills, 4 aces, 10 digs, 6 asists
Hannah Longley – 4 aces, 2 digs
Lauren Lee – 18 digs, 3 assists
Morgan Moffett – 4 blocks, 6 kills
Regan Fuller – 2 digs, 2 kills
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)