Ooltewah came into the week knowing it had to beat Walker Valley and Cleveland to have a shot at winning another District 5-3A regular season title.
Also in the Lady Owls’ memory bank was the fact that the title would set them up for a No. 1 seed in the postseason tournament, which the Lady Mustangs will host. Ooltewah has captured three consecutive tourney championships.
Half the mission has been accomplished.
Ooltewah dropped the first set Tuesday night and then reeled off three straight wins to complete the season sweep of the Lady Mustangs, 3-1. Scores were 26-24, 13-25, 20-25 and 22-25.
“We beat Walker Valley in five sets at their place,” said Ooltewah setter Macy Milliken, who had seven kills, 26 assists, one ace and 22 digs. “We beat them in four tonight, so that shows how much we’ve improved. I think we could have beaten them in three, but we just lost focus in the first game.”
The Lady Owls (23-9, 9-1) will travel to Cleveland on Thursday to take on the Lady Blue Raiders (18-8, 8-1). Cleveland snapped Ooltewah’s district regular season winning streak at 40-plus earlier in the season with a 3-0 sweep.
This season’s title could well be on the line Thursday in the new Raider Arena.
“I think our girls need to be prepared for a good game and use the same mentality we had tonight,” Cleveland coach Trishia Flower said in a telephone interview. “We beat Ooltewah 3-0 at their place and that was unexpected. We played really well and they didn’t.”
It will be Pink Out night for Cleveland and the team will honor Ooltewah coach Elaine Peigen, a cancer survivor, and the mother of the Lady Owls’ Sidney Killingworth, who is currently battling breast cancer.
The Lady Owls rally salvaged an emotional high after Aubbie Collake, Shelby Sutton, Jadyn Raschke, Killingsworth, Sydney Alleman and Courtney Swafford were lauded on senior night at Edward M. Foster Gymnasium.
“Senior night was really good,” said Collake, who had seven kills, three aces, 11 digs and 1.5 blocks. “To beat Walker Valley on senior night was an awesome feeling. It was a clutch win and definitely gave us a boost in confidence.
“I think this gets us ready for Cleveland on Thursday. We have to go into that game mentally prepared.”
In the opening set, the Lady Owls and Lady Mustangs (12-8, 6-3) appeared ready for another tight battle.
The action was nip-and-tuck and Walker Valley scored three straight points – aided by two Ooltewah errors – to grab a 21-19 lead. The Lady Owls then reeled off five consecutive points, three resulting from Lady Mustangs miscues, to go up 24-21.
Walker Valley scored the final five points to claim a 26-24 win. Killingsworth netted a kill and added a net error for the first two points. Kaley Walker, who finished with 12 kills, one block, one assists and 14 digs, scored on a tap, Carly Buckner dropped in a tap and the Lady Mustangs closed out the set when Collake’s shot sailed past the backline.
“Our girls did some good things, but after the first game we made too many errors,” Walker Valley coach Judy Pruett said. “We weren’t completely on our game. I’m not sure focus is the right word because they knew what this (match) meant. It probably meant us being in second place, or tied for second, or now it looks like we could finish third.”
Ooltewah had a firm grasp on the significance of the match as well.
Set 2 was similar to the first.
Ooltewah was nursing a 12-10 advantage when it went on an 8-3 run – Walker Valley contributed five unforced errors – to stretch the lead to 20-13.
Duplicating what the Lady Mustangs did minutes earlier, the Lady Owls scored the final five points to level the match. Swafford, who had 32 digs, one assist and one ace in the match, notched two service points in the closing offensive spree.
Cheyanne Sales blocked a shot – she had five in the match -- by Walker Valley’s Macy Nipper, Collake scored on a kill and Milliken ripped a slam for the 25th point.
Ooltewah had a 16-10 lead in Set 3, but Walker Valley cut it to 23-20 on Buckner’s kill.
Cheyanne and Collake each scored on kills to end the set and give the Lady Owls a 2-1lead.
In the finale, three straight Walker Valley errors stretched Ooltewah’s lead from 14-10 to 17-10, but Peigen’s squad couldn’t maintain the run. The Lady Mustangs scored the next four points – Walker had two kills, Julia McGuire threw down a tap and Collake sent a shot sideout, closing the gap to 17-14.
McGuire had a good night with six kills, four blocks and four digs.
Ooltewah answered with two Killingsworth kills and Collake’s service point, pushing the lead to 20-14. The Lady Mustangs got kills from Walker and McGuire. Two errors gave Ooltewah a 22-16 lead. Three Lady Owls misplays allowed Walker Valley to climb back to within three points.
Sutton, credited with four kills, three aces and 22 digs, scored on a two-hand push and another Walker Valley error produced Ooltewah’s 24th point.
The Lady Mustangs refused to wilt. They got a Buckner slam and Ooltewah made two unforced errors and the Lady Owls’ lead was 24-22.
Milliken ended the match with seventh kill.
“We hit too many balls to the libero (Swafford) and we didn’t serve very tough,” Pruett said. “Ooltewah played well and had a good night blocking. We didn’t play well enough to win and they did.”
In wrapping up the night, Peigen said, “I’ll tell you who played good tonight. Macy played really well. Courtney settled down at the libero position and played well. Aubbie has played consistently well all year. Jadyn probably had her best game; didn’t miss any serves and had (19) digs.
“It was an overall great team effort and I’m pleased with the win.”
STATISTICS
Walker Valley
Carly Buckner – 4 kills, 8 digs, 1 ace
Hannah Calfee – 3 kills, 1 block, 2 digs
Kate Essenburg – 3 kills, 1 block, 14 assists, 10 digs, 1 ace
Rylee Lawson – 1 assist
Aly Grace Lemons – 4 kills, 1 block, 4 digs, 2 aces
Megan Malone – 13 digs
Julia McGuire – 6 kills, 4 blocks, 4 digs
Hannah Grace Moore – 17 assists, 11 digs, 1 ace
Macy Nipper – 2 kills, 2 digs
Kaley Walker – 12 kills, 1 block, 1 assist, 14 digs
Alice Woolson – 10 digs
Ooltewah
Sidney Killingsworth – 8 kills, 1 ace, 3 digs, 2 blocks
Aubbie Collake – 7 kills, 3 aces, 11 digs, .5 block
Sydney Alleman – 10 assists, 10 digs
Shelby Sutton – 4 kills, 3 aces, 22 digs
Jadyn Raschke – 1 kill, 3 aces, 19 digs
Courtney Swafford – 1 assists, 1 ace, 32 digs
Macy Milliken – 7 kills, 26 assists, 1 ace, 22 digs
Cheyanne Sales – 4 kills, 1 assist, 2 digs, 5 blocks
Ally Chernak – 1 assist
Cleveland
Amber Mormon – 1.5 blocks, 2 digs
Anna Renshaw – 5 aces, 8 digs, 5 kills, 9 assists
Hannah Longley – 6 digs
Emma Flowers – 6 digs, 12 kills, 9 assists
Jessi Towe – 4 digs, 2 kills
Lily Oliver – 1 dig, 1 kill
Lydia Martin – 1 ace
Morgan Moffett – 1 dig, 2 kills
Regan Fuller – 1 dig, 1 kill
Sammie Kate Eason – 6 digs
Sophia Lakatosh – 2 aces, 2 digs
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)