Signal Mountain Sweeps Soddy Daisy In Non-District Volleyball

Lady Eagles Now 25-7 Following 25-18, 25-12, 25-16 Victory

  • Monday, September 12, 2016
  • John Hunt
Signal Mountain hitter Aubrie Johnson (4) slams home a kill against the attempted defense of Soddy Daisy's Gracie Ratledge, left, and Kelsey Henderson (14) in a non-district match Monday afternoon at the Lady Trojans' gymnasium. Behind Johnson's play at the net, the Lady Eagles swept their hosts, 3-0 (25-18, 25-12, 25-16).
Signal Mountain hitter Aubrie Johnson (4) slams home a kill against the attempted defense of Soddy Daisy's Gracie Ratledge, left, and Kelsey Henderson (14) in a non-district match Monday afternoon at the Lady Trojans' gymnasium. Behind Johnson's play at the net, the Lady Eagles swept their hosts, 3-0 (25-18, 25-12, 25-16).
photo by Dennis Norwood

The Signal Mountain Lady Eagle volleyball team had a really good weekend as they finished second to nationally-ranked Baylor in the River City Rumble.

After playing nine matches in two days, the Lady Eagles were probably ready for a break, but they didn’t get one on Monday as they traveled to Soddy Daisy for a non-district match with the Lady Trojans.

Signal Mountain didn’t play at the same level in this last match that it did on Saturday, but it was good enough to sweep the Lady Trojans by scores of 25-18, 25-12 and 25-16.

With the win, Signal Mountain improves to 25-7 while Soddy Daisy is now 14-20.

“I’m glad that we won, but our serve receive just wasn’t very good today,” said Signal Mountain coach Jennifer Redman after the match ended.

“We did a few things okay, but we just didn’t have a very good day as we could have covered better and we certainly could have hit it better.  We had some moments where we were communicating and swinging very well as we were really flowing at times.

“And we held them to less than 20 points in all three sets, so I guess that’s a good thing,” the veteran coach added.

Soddy Daisy coach Libby Peigen saw a few things she liked from her team, but the Lady Trojans were way too inconsistent.

“I thought we passed well at times, but we weren’t able to transition that into playable balls,” she began.

“Signal Mountain has an awesome team and they came here today to get the job done, but we just were not focused at the net as we were over-swinging.  I loved our serve receive as we very rarely got aced, but we were just not driven today.

“We need to start taking some of these losses personally, but losing doesn’t seem to bother them as much as it bothers me.  We’re young and inexperienced in places and I’m sure we’ll get there eventually,” Peigen concluded with a smile.

The Lady Eagles didn’t waste any time taking control of the match as they scored five of the first six points in the first set and 11 of the first 13, leading to two quick timeouts by the Lady Trojans.

A kill from Maia Rackel extended Signal’s lead to 14-4 before Rachel Rader got a kill for Soddy Daisy and then reeled off six straight service points to get within 14-11.

Just as quickly as Soddy Daisy made things interesting, Signal Mountain scored six of the next points before taking that first set on a kill by Olivia Powers.

The second set was closer for a while as Soddy Daisy had the advantage at 4-2 before the Lady Eagles took the lead at with four straight points.  The Signal lead was only 7-6 before five straight points doubled the score.

The difference was 14-9 when Aubrie Johnson recorded two of her match-high 14 kills.  By the time Nicole Terfloth added four more service points, the difference was 20-9 and it never got much closer.

A kill from Kyleigh Ward and three service points from Ward allowed the Lady Trojans to grab an 8-4 lead in the third set, but back-to-back kills from Rackel got momentum back on Signal’s side.

The score was tied at 12 before Kelsey Sitton served 11 straight points with Johnson having three kills in that run.  Another kill from Johnson put the Lady Eagles at match point with the score 24-16 before a hitting error by Soddy Daisy ended the match.

Johnson had two digs and two blocks to go along with her 14 kills while Rackel finished with eight kills and 14 digs.  Nicole Terfloth also had 14 digs for Signal Mountain while Kate Barry finished with 17 assists.

Ward had four kills, five assists, three aces and two digs to lead Soddy Daisy while Kirstie Williams had nine assists and four aces.  Kylie Brincks tallied 10 digs for the Lady Trojans.

Signal Mountain returns to action at home on Tuesday when Grundy County pays a visit while Soddy Daisy travels to East Hamilton on Tuesday.

EAST HAMILTON BEAT Hixson in a non-district match at East Hamilton Monday, the Lady Hurricanes winning by scores of 23-25, 25-17, 25-6 and 25-22.

Hixson, now 11-15 overall, has two big District 6-AA matches at home this week with Red Bank on Tuesday and Central on Thursday.

SIGNAL MOUNTAIN STATS:

Nicole Terfloth – 14 digs, 2 aces

Elaine Redman – 2 aces, 2 kills, 10 digs

Aubrie Johnson – 14 kills, 2 digs, 2 blocks

Kelsey Sitton – 1 dig, 1 ace

Kate Barry – 1 ace, 10 digs, 2 blocks, 17 assists

Mackenzie Lewis – 1 dig, 2 kills

Maia Rackel – 8 kills, 14 digs

Sidney Lapinski – 10 assists, 5 digs

Olivia Powers – 2 kills, 1 dig

Cora Hansen – 2 kills

Hallie Hunt – 3 digs.

SODDY DAISY STATS:

Kyleigh Ward – 4 kills, 5 assists, 3 aces, 2 digs

Taylor Uren – 6 digs, 1 ace

Kirstie Williams – 9 assists, 1 dig, 4 aces

Cameren Swafford – 3 kills, 2 blocks, 8 digs

Kylie Brincks – 1 kill, .5 block, 10 digs, 1 ace

Gracie Ratledge – 3 kills, .5 block, 1 dig

Rachel Rader – 2 kills, 2 blocks, 5 digs, 3 aces

Kelsey Henderson – 1 dig.

HIXSON STATS:

Dakota Rawiszer -- 3 kills, 10 digs, 2 blocks, 1 assist

Sam Dove -- 1 ace, 2 kills, 13 digs, 16 assists

Courtney Jones -- 2 aces, 4 kills, 7 digs, 1 block

Sam McKee -- 3 kills

Abby Rector -- 11 kills, 2 blocks

Shelby Rector -- 2 aces, 2 kills, 7 digs, 1 block, 1 assist

Annie Ziegler -- 3 digs

Rachel Cline -- 2 aces, 9 digs

Marly Fitzpatrick -- 7 digs

(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)

Signal Mountain's Kelsey Sitton reeled off 11 straight points in the third set to help the Lady Eagles to a 25-16 win and a three-set sweep of Soddy Daisy in a non-district match Monday afternoon.
Signal Mountain's Kelsey Sitton reeled off 11 straight points in the third set to help the Lady Eagles to a 25-16 win and a three-set sweep of Soddy Daisy in a non-district match Monday afternoon.
photo by Dennis Norwood
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