Sale Creek Storms Past Central, 3-0, In Volleyball Action

Lady Panthers Have Won 11 Of 12 Matches This Season

  • Thursday, August 25, 2016
  • Larry Fleming
Sale Creek's Tayla Willis (24) and Gracie Janow (15) leap in an attempt to block a kill by a Central player during their volleyball match Thursday at Central. The Lady Panthers won 3-0 by set scores of 25-21, 25-13 and 25-8.
Sale Creek's Tayla Willis (24) and Gracie Janow (15) leap in an attempt to block a kill by a Central player during their volleyball match Thursday at Central. The Lady Panthers won 3-0 by set scores of 25-21, 25-13 and 25-8.
photo by M.A. Locke

Despite playing short-handed, Sale Creek’s once-beaten Lady Panthers made short work of Central, 3-0, Thursday night in high school volleyball action at Central High School.

The Lady Panthers sprinted to their 11th win in 12 matches this season by whipping Central 25-21, 25-13, 25-8 in the non-district matchup.

“We played well today,” Sale Creek coach Debbie Hill said. “Our passing was good and I was happy with the blocking up front. It was a good team effort. Everybody stepped up and did a good job.”

It was Sale Creek’s second win against Central in nine days. The Lady Panthers swept the Lady Pounders, 3-0, on Aug. 16.

The Lady Panthers were playing without three junior members of the team – Abbey Burton, Lexi Culpepper and Emilee White.

Still, Hill’s squad built big leads in each set and blistered Central with a 17-4 down-the-stretch run, turning the finale into a rout.

The match took only 68 minutes.

“I thought we played pretty well in the first set,” Central coach Jeremy Rogers said. “But we are our own worst enemy. We starting making unforced errors and that gets in our heads. Once we make one or two, we let it snowball and teams make six-, seven- or eight-point runs and it’s hard to fight back.”

The Lady Panthers started the first set with a 12-3 spurt.

Leading 4-3 in the second, Sale Creek scored the next six points and eight of nine to blow into a 12-4 advantage. In the finale, the Lady Panthers used the 17-4 match-closing run to seal the deal.

“We passed the ball well,” said Ariana Smith, one of only two seniors on the Sale Creek roster. “Our hits were really consistent and that’s something we haven’t always done this year.”

Smith was among three Lady Panthers that unleashed their power game at the net against Central. Smith had nine kills, Gracie Janow six and Madysun Steele three.

Sale Creek had 27 kills in the match.

In the opening set, the Lady Panthers extended a 5-2 lead to 12-3. With the score 14-8, Central was guilty of a double-hit, Smith’s kill was just inside the backline, Janow blocked a Central slap and Bailey Nelson, who was credited with 15 assists, scored on a tap to push the lead to 18-9.

Down 20-15, Central took advantage of back-to-back unforced errors and senior Brooke Parrott’s service point to close the gap to 20-15.

Parrott, who has signed a softball scholarship with Tennessee Tech, was the key cog in Central’s attack, rifling rocket serves that appeared to be on a clothesline and making power moves at the net.

“She probably serves harder than anyone we’ve seen this year,” Hill said. “She got a roll out there and we kind of just watched it.”

Said Parrott of her screaming service game, “Hitting it hard in volleyball comes from pitching hard in softball. I’ve been taking a lot off my serve until today. I’ve been thinking too much about it; I didn’t want to hit it too far. I decided to hit it hard because I was sick and tired of letting people hit easy serves.

“So, I was like, ‘Hit the ball hard.’ I worked on it a lot in practice Wednesday and put it in the game today. I’m going to keep doing it, but I want to get more consistent.”

Sale Creek scored the next two points off Central errors, the Lady Panthers followed with a pair of mistakes of their own and the Lady Pounders coughed up two more points off errors and fell behind 24-17.

Central got a Parrott kill and a winning slap by Kerri Sylvester, plus a slap by Sale Creek’s Tayla Willis sailed long, and Sale Creek’s lead was 24-20.

Sylvester’s long serve gave Sale Creek the 25th point.

“Last week at Sale Creek our first set was very bad, but today it was pretty solid,” Rogers said. “Brooke is the only player I have left from last year’s team that played varsity. She’s had a lot of experience. The other girls are learning the positions and what they have to do.”

Nursing an early 5-3 margin in the second set, the Lady Panthers went on a 6-0 run with Janow scoring three times on jump serves, the last a floater – no spin on the ball. Willis added a two-hand spike. An errant Central serve got the rally started.

On the short end of a 16-8 score, the Lady Pounders got points off Janow and Willis misfires and Sylvester scored on a service point. Up 17-12, Sale Creek’s Smith scored on a timely soft spike, two long serves by Parrott, who had seven kills, 14 digs and four aces, and another Central unforced error.

Sale Creek’s final point came amid mild confusion. It appeared Central had scored, but the Lady Pounders were guilty of a rotation error that gave the point and 2-0 set lead to the Lady Panthers.

The Lady Panthers went up 6-0 and the lead was doubled at 12-6.

Sale Creek scored five straight points – Smith had two kills – before Central scored two in a row.

Central errors started Sale Creek’s final 8-0 run.

Smith threw down a spike. Janow, who served four aces, added a kill off a Jayda Perry assist. Smith had another kill. Parrott was long with a serve. Morgan Weatherford, who had 21 digs, ended the match with a service point and an ace.

“We’ve been working on a lot of mental stuff,” the Lady Panthers’ Nelson said. “We were good in our hitting and blocking today and we worked hard to the end. We’ve had Abbey Burton out for quite a while and two other girls were out today.

“Sydney Gibson and Madysun Steele have really picked it up and are doing a really good job.”

Statistics

Sale Creek

Bailey Nelson – 2 kills, 1 dig, 15 assists, 1 ace

Ariana Smith – 9 kills, 9 digs, 2 blocks

Gracie Janow – 6 kills, 5 digs, 4 aces, 2 blocks

Tayla Willis – 5 kills, 7 digs

Morgan Weatherford – 21 digs, 2 assists

Madysun Steele – 3 kills, 2 digs, 1 block

Sydney Gibson – 1 kill, 1 dig, 1 block

Avery Cox – 5 digs

Karah Carson – 1 kill, 1 dig, 1 ace

Jayda Perry – 7 assists, 1 ace

Central

Brooke Parrott – 7 kills, 14 digs, 4 aces

Makayla Smith – 5 kills

Kerri Sylvester – 10 assists, 6 digs, 3 aces

Gracee Webb – 7 assists, 6 digs

 

(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)

Brooke Parrott of Central (3) spikes a ball as Sale Creek's Sydney Gibson (4) tries to block on the play. Parrott paced the Lady Pounders with seven kills, 14 digs and four aces.
Brooke Parrott of Central (3) spikes a ball as Sale Creek's Sydney Gibson (4) tries to block on the play. Parrott paced the Lady Pounders with seven kills, 14 digs and four aces.
photo by M.A. Locke
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