Debbie Hill and Janet Tate have been close friends and rival volleyball coaches for more years than they care to admit.
It’s become a tradition for their teams to face each other in the season opening match and it always seems to be a close and intense match regardless who wins.
So are you really surprised that Monday’s match at Hixson went five sets and took almost two hours to complete?
Volleyball is one of those sports where momentum swings play a bigger role than most others and that was surely the case in their latest match.
Hill’s Sale Creek Lady Panthers won the first set by a relatively-easy 25-15 margin before Tate’s Hixson Lady Wildcats bounced back to win the next two by scores of 25-22 and 25-16.
Looking like they might win it all in four, the Lady Panthers had other ideas and came back to win, knotting things at two sets apiece in a 25-19 win before winning the tie-breaker by 15-8.
“Just another typical Sale Creek-Hixson match as it’s always like this,” Hill said shortly after the match ended.
“I don’t know if we bring out the best or the worst in each other, but we always enjoy playing as we start and end our season with them,” she added.
“I’m just proud of the way we hung in there. Abbey Burton is hurt and didn’t play, so we had to change things around a bit as at least three girls were playing out of position, but they all stepped up and did well tonight.
“This is always a quality early test for us and we had some young girls get some quality playing time, but it just shows that we still have a whole lot of work to do. I’m really pleased with their effort, but we just have to be more consistent and I guess that will come with experience,” Hill nodded.
Hixson’s Tate is as competitive as they come and she would have loved to have seen a different outcome.
“If we had played the fourth set like we played the second and third, we might have had a different outcome. We just need to learn how to put teams away when the momentum is on our side,” she said later.
“We had poor ball control and that hurt, but we learned a lot of lessons tonight. We know each other pretty well, but we lost the momentum in that fourth set and it cost us the match. I thought Abby Rector, Rachel Cline and Kiera Taylor all played well,” she concluded.
Ariana Smith, one of two seniors on Sale Creek’s team had four straight service points at the start of the first set as the Lady Panthers turned a 2-1 deficit into a 6-2 lead.
Karah Carson and Avery Cox later added five service points each as the Lady Panthers kept building their lead. Sale Creek’s biggest lead came at 22-10.
The second set was totally different as Hixson started putting things together. This set was tied 11 times, the last time at 22-all before the Lady Wildcats scored the final three points to win.
The third set was also close and tied at 10 each before Cline recorded five straight service points. The Lady Wildcats kept the pressure on and the lead kept growing as Hixson took the 2-1 lead by scoring four of the last five points.
With their backs to the wall and facing a do-or-die situation in the fourth set, the Lady Panthers got their act together and took charge by going on a 7-1 run that turned a 7-7 tie into a 14-8 Sale Creek lead.
Back-to-back kills from Abby Rector and Courtney Jones got Hixson to within two at 21-19, but kills from Smith and Madysun Steele wrapped around a hitting error from Hixson allowed the visitors to even the score with the fourth-set win.
Playing with new life and a renewed enthusiasm, Hixson got an ace from Dakota Rawiszer to start the final set, but two hitting errors shifted the lead back to Sale Creek and the Lady Panthers took charge from that point on.
Five straight service points from Gracie Janow extended a 6-3 lead to 11-3 shortly before the Lady Panthers clinched the win with back-to-back kills from Sydney Gibson and Smith.
Smith had 13 kills and 26 digs to go along with four aces and a block to lead the Lady Panthers while Bailey Nelson had 39 assists and Morgan Weatherford 35 digs.
Rector had eight kills, two digs and a block to lead Hixson while Marly Fitzpatrick had 15 digs. Sam Dove finished with 15 assists, five aces, five kills and two digs.
Both teams return to action on Tuesday with Sale Creek hosting Central and Hixson traveling to Ooltewah.
And there’s a better than average chance they’ll meet again on Saturday in the Hixson Invitational that includes 10 teams. Hixson is joined by Upperman, Lookout Valley, East Ridge and Red Bank in one pool while Sale Creek is joined by Chattanooga Christian, Boyd-Buchanan, Notre Dame and Grace in the other.
Pool play begins at 9 a.m. at both Hixson High and Middle School gyms. The semifinals are set for 4 p.m. with the winners to meet for the championship immediately afterward.
SALE CREEK STATS:
Karah Carson – 3 aces
Ariana Smith – 13 kills, 26 digs, 4 aces, 1 block
Gracie Janow – 11 kills, 3 digs, 3 aces, 2 blocks
Bailey Nelson – 1 kill, 10 digs, 39 assists, 2 aces
Emilee White – 1 kill, 1 dig
Tayla Willis – 7 kills, 12 digs, 1 assist, 2 blocks
Morgan Weatherford – 35 digs
Avery Cox – 13 digs, 1 ace
Sydney Gibson – 2 kills, 3 digs, 1 block
Madysun Steele – 10 kills, 2 digs, 1 block.
HIXSON STATS:
Courtney Jones – 6 kills, 12 digs, 2 blocks
Sam Dove – 5 aces, 5 kills, 2 digs, 15 assists
Dakota Rawiszer – 3 aces, 5 kills, 5 digs, 1 block
Marly Fitzpatrick – 15 digs
Rachel Cline – 3 aces, 12 digs
Kiera Taylor – 3 aces, 5 kills, 8 digs, 1 block
Shelby Rector – 5 kills
Annie Zeigler – 1 dig
Abby Rector – 8 kills, 2 digs, 1 block.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)