Walker Valley Subdues Cleveland For Key 5-3A Volleyball Win

Lady Mustangs Turn Match With Miracle Comeback In Fourth Set

  • Thursday, September 15, 2016
  • Larry Fleming
Walker Valley's Kate Essenburg (7) tries to block Emma Flowers of Cleveland during their District 5-3A volleyball match at Cleveland High School on Thursday. The Lady Mustangs win a five-set thriller, 3-2.
Walker Valley's Kate Essenburg (7) tries to block Emma Flowers of Cleveland during their District 5-3A volleyball match at Cleveland High School on Thursday. The Lady Mustangs win a five-set thriller, 3-2.
photo by Dennis Norwood

CLEVELAND, Tenn. – Walker Valley turned what could have been a one-sided loss into a stirring victory Thursday night in a gutty performance against District 5-3A volleyball rival Cleveland in the sparkling new Raider Arena.

The Lady Mustangs overcame a nine-point deficit to win the opener.

Cleveland claimed the next two sets, although they blew a 15-7 lead in the third before rallying to win it in a match that had as many swings as a neighborhood playground.

By winning the fourth set Walker Valley (11-8, 6-2) took an emotional edge into the fifth and led wire-to-wire to win the match 3-2 and stay in the regular-season title chase with Cleveland and Ooltewah.

“I have no idea how we came back in that first game,” Walker Valley coach Judy Pruett said. “We were down in every single game except the last one. We stayed ahead, had enough energy, enough want to that we were able to win that one.”

It was the first district loss for Cleveland (17-8, 7-1) and it fell into a first-place tie with Ooltewah, which defeated Soddy-Daisy 3-1.

Scores of the thrilling Cleveland-Walker Valley match were 27-25, 11-25, 23-25, 26-24 and 15-12.

Ooltewah (19-8, 8-1), which entertains Walker Valley on Tuesday, came out on top 23-25, 25-21, 27-25 and 25-18.

“I’m very angry,” Cleveland standout Emma Flowers said. “This is a humbling experience. It shows that we can’t take anybody lightly, but I have to give a shoutout to Walker Valley because they worked their butts off and deserved that win. They never gave up.”

In the finale, Walker Valley was up 7-6 and scored three straight points on Kate Essenburg’s dink and Cleveland’s back-to-back unforced errors. Essenburg finished with three kills, 15 assists, nine digs and one ace.

The Lady Mustangs led 12-9, but Cleveland got a point on a Walker Valley miscue and Emma Flowers, who had 22 of Cleveland’s 42 kills, blasted a winner to close the gap to 12-11.

Flowers also had seven aces, 14 digs and nine assists.

Walker Valley scored on a Cleveland error. Flowers added another kill, but missed long and the Lady Mustangs won the match with a service point.

“We had it,” Cleveland coach Patricia Flowers said. “I knew if Walker Valley won the fourth set they would go into the fifth, a short game, with momentum. The way we were playing it wasn’t going to be pretty, but I’m not going to lose sleep tonight. We just got outplayed.”

In Set 4, Cleveland was up 9-5 and extended the lead with four straight points – Amber Mormon, who had six kills, two blocks and six digs, dropped a kill and Jessi Towe added three straight service points. After Walker Valley scored three points, the Lady Raiders ripped off five in a row – the Lady Mustangs had three unforced errors in the spree – and enjoyed an 18-8 lead.

The Lady Mustangs’ Megan Malone sent a serve into the net and Cleveland had a 24-20 edge.

Seemingly conjuring a miracle, Walker Valley reeled off the final six points for a stunning 26-24 win. Julia McGuire scored on a slap, Aly Grace Lemon – she had seven kills, two blocks and three digs -- blocked for a point, Cleveland was called for one of many double hits, Lemons tossed in a kill and attempted kills by Flowers and Lily Oliver, a freshman just called up to the varsity, found nothing but net.

That forced the deciding fifth set.

“We lacked a lot of stuff in this match,” said Emma Flowers, the daughter of the Cleveland coach. “We lacked leadership, we lacked chemistry and nothing much was going our way.”

The Lady Raiders shook off the startling loss in Set 1 and bounced back with a dominating 14-point win to level the match at 1-1.

A 10-1 run gave Cleveland an 18-8 lead and the Lady Mustangs looked wobbly with five unforced errors. The Lady Raiders finished off by outscoring Walker Valley 7-3 down the stretch.

Cleveland was up 17-11 in Set 3 when the Lady Mustangs scored seven straight points for an 18-17 advantage. The Lady Raiders were out front 24-20 and the Lady Mustangs cut their deficit to 24-23, but Cleveland won when Walker Valley’s Lemons sent a serve beyond the backline.

“We had some big leads and gave them away,” coach Flowers said. “We weren’t consistent and there’s a lot of pressure on one person to constantly be getting the points. I know because Emma Lenoir had that pressure last year at East Hamilton.

“When she was on she could beat a team single-handedly. Who was their go-to girl when Emma was off, though? I’m not going to let this loss get us down. All our goals are still in place. This is painful and sometimes it takes something like this get to make things right.

“You say maybe we need to practice longer, get more reps, practice longer. We can say, we can say, we can say. At the end of the day, this was the same exact scenario that continues to happen. The girls have to get serious. If they’re ready for the season to end, it’ll end. If they’re not ready for it to end, it doesn’t have to.”

Kaley Walker turned in a solid effort for the Lady Mustangs with 11 kills, 22 digs and 2 blocks.

STATISTICS

Walker Valley

Carly Buckner – 2 digs, 1 ace

Gaby Burse – 2 digs, 1 ace

Hannah Calfee – 3 kills, 1 block, 8 digs, 1 ace

Kate Essenburg – 3 kills, 15 assists, 9 digs, 1 ace

Aly Grace Lemons – 7 kills, 2 blocks, 3 digs

Megan Malone – 1 assist, 7 digs

Julia McGuire – 4 kills, 2 blocks, 2 assists

Hannah Grace Moore – 9 assists, 7 digs

Macy Nipper – 2 kills, 1  assists, 2 digs

Kaley Walker – 11 kills, 2 blocks, 22 digs

Alice Woolson – 12 digs

Cleveland

Amber Mormon – 2 blocks, 6 digs, 6 kills

Anna Renshaw – 1 ace, .5 block, 21 digs, 6 kills, 25 assists

Emma Flowers – 7 aces, 14 digs, 22 kills, 9 assists

Hannah Longley – 13 digs.

Jessi Towe – 3 aces, 3 digs, 1 kill

Lauren Lee – 3 aces, 3 digs, 2 assists

Lily Oliver – 4 kills

Morgan Moffett – 3.5 blocks, 1 dig

Regan Fuller – 2 aces, 2 blocks, 6 digs, 3 kills

Sammie Kate Eason – 11 digs

Sophia Lokatosh – 1 ace, 1 dig, 1 assist

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

Aly Grace Lemons (19) goes for a shot near the net against Morgan Moffett of Cleveland on Thursday in District 5-3A action. Walker Valley finally pulled out a 3-2 victory to remain in contention for the regular-season title.
Aly Grace Lemons (19) goes for a shot near the net against Morgan Moffett of Cleveland on Thursday in District 5-3A action. Walker Valley finally pulled out a 3-2 victory to remain in contention for the regular-season title.
photo by Dennis Norwood
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