Lady Raiders Whip Lady Owls, Move Closer To 5-3A Title

Cleveland Notches Second 3-0 Sweep Of Ooltewah

  • Thursday, September 22, 2016
Ooltewah's Shelby Sutton, left, and libero Courtney Swafford (0) each attempt a dig against Cleveland on Thursday night at the Raider Arena. Cleveland posted a 3-0 sweep of the Lady Owls by scores of 25-22, 25-23 and 25-20.
Ooltewah's Shelby Sutton, left, and libero Courtney Swafford (0) each attempt a dig against Cleveland on Thursday night at the Raider Arena. Cleveland posted a 3-0 sweep of the Lady Owls by scores of 25-22, 25-23 and 25-20.
photo by Dennis Norwood

CLEVELAND, Tenn. –  Cleveland’s Lady Blue Raiders took a huge step toward capturing their first District 5-3A regular season volleyball championship in a decade Thursday night by completing a season sweep of perennial title winner Ooltewah at the Raider Arena.

The Lady Raiders (19-8, 9-1) beat the Lady Owls, 3-0, in an impressive display of cohesive team play by with tight scores of 25-22, 25-23 and 25-20 on a Cleveland’s Pink Out match.

Cleveland has now swept Ooltewah (24-11, 9-2) twice this season after having dropped the previous 10 matches and 27 of 30 sets from 2013 through 2015.

“We played really good today,” said Cleveland standout Emma Flowers, who had 24 kills, 13 assists and 11 digs in the match. “We came out ready to play  and we played together as a team because our confidence was up.”

The Lady Raiders can nail down an outright title by beating East Hamilton and bitter rival Bradley Central next week.

“We’re pretty happy,” said Cleveland coach Patricia Flowers, Emma’s mother. “For us to go far, we have to beat Ooltewah consistently. It’s one thing to win a set or two against them every five or 10 years, but to beat them twice in a season by 3-0 scores means a lot for our program.”

Ooltewah has one league match remaining next Tuesday when it travels to McMinn County. A victory over the Lady Cherokees would likely give the Lady Owls the No. 2 seed for the district tournament on Oct 3-6 at Walker Valley.

Ooltewah closes the regular season by hosting Signal Mountain next Thursday.

The upstart Lady Raiders, who last won a league title in 2005-06 in Flowers’ third season as head coach, find themselves on the verge of knocking the Lady Owls off their championship throne after posting three straight 12-0 campaigns while notching championship from 2013-15.

Cleveland also won a title in 2003-04, Flowers’ debut season after serving two years as Don Rogers’ assistant. In total, this is Flowers’ 15th year at Cleveland.

“They’re a really good team,” Ooltewah’s Aubbie Collake said. “We’ve been working a lot in practice on defending Emma, but it hurts when we blocked her and when she went to the back row they were still getting kills.”

Anna Renshaw helped Flowers up front by adding 12 kills. Amber Mormon had four while Morgan Moffett and Sammie Kate Eason each had two and Lily Oliver and Regan Fuller one each.

Renshaw turned in a solid performance, adding four aces, 13 digs and 20 assists.

A remarkable Ooltewah winning streak of at least 41 victories in league play ended when the Lady Raiders won 3-0 at Ooltewah on Sept. 6.

Said Ooltewah coach Elaine Peigen, “I think Cleveland knew they had to play as a team to beat us. They played well and deserved to win. I’m disappointed we didn’t win, but it was a good match. I enjoyed it. It was a nice, entertaining match even though we didn’t win. But we’re OK.”

Last season the Lady Raiders finished the regular season 26-15 and beat Soddy-Daisy in the district tournament before losing to Walker Valley in the quarterfinals.

If Flowers’ squad finishes the season with two more victories, it will go into this year’s tournament  favored to win it all.

In anyone’s world, in any sport, that’s making huge strides after 10 years of playing mostly for “next year.”

When Flowers took the reins from Rogers, only one of her varsity players (Sonya Hunt, who went on to play at Tusculum College) was participating in club volleyball. This past offseason Flowers said more than 20 of her 27 players were on the club circuit.

Flowers credits club ball and her coaching the middle school program for years until last season with the success of this year’s squad.

“I played three sports in high school and played basketball at Lee University and won a national title in 1999, my sophomore year,” Flower said. “I thought I’d always be a basketball coach. My strongest sport was track and favorite sport was basketball. The one I had the most potential in was volleyball. Who knew I’d give birth to a volleyball player?

“My high school volleyball coach would be shocked that I’m not coaching basketball. I considered it a few times, but I love this. (Volleyball) fits my personality, quirks and strengths.”

Ooltewah had a 17-14 lead in the opening set but Cleveland scored four straight points – Renshaw had two service points and an ace before sending her last serve into the net, a miscue that tied that match at 18-all. An unforced error by the Lady Owls started the streak.

Emma Flowers scored on a kill and Hannah Longley delivered a service point. Ooltewah’s Sidney Killingsworth, who had 10 kills, four digs and 5 ½ blocks, and Flowers’ error tied the match again at 20-20.

It was still tied at 22-22.

Flowers had a kill, Renshaw scored back-to-back points and Ooltewah’s Anna Maria Novelli’s slap shot found the net to give Cleveland the 25-22 win.

“Self-control and discipline were our two main goals for this match,” Emma Flowers said. “We worked on those in practice Wednesday and I think we nailed them tonight.”

The Lady Owls led 6-4 in Set 2, but were playing catchup the rest of the way.

When Moffett scored on a block Cleveland had a 20-15 advantage. Renshaw’s kill gave the Lady Raiders a 23-20 lead, but Cheyanne Sales blocked Amber Mormon for a point and Mormon’s slam netted and Ooltewah was within 23-22.

Mormon scored on a kill. Renshaw’s slam sailed out and the Lady Raiders’ lead was 24-23.

Renshaw knocked home a kill to produce a 2-0 Cleveland lead.

“I don’t think we played our best, but we’re definitely improving a lot,” Renshaw said. “We have a lot more we want to do this season and we want to play better and better the rest of the way.”

The Lady Owls started Set 3 with a 10-3 run, but four straight Cleveland points – three Ooltewah errors and a Renshaw service point – tied the match at 14-all.

Ooltewah went up 17-14. A dink and kill by Flowers knotted the score at 18-18. When Renshaw scored on a slap and Flowers added a two-hand push the Lady Raiders enjoyed a 22-19 lead.

Ooltewah’s Shelby Sutton dropped in a cross-court, two-handed push and Regan Fuller had a slap to push the Lady Raiders’ lead out to 23-20.

An Ooltewah unforced error and Macy Milliken’s slam – she had four kills, 27 assists, 14 digs and one block – to the net produced the final 25-20 score and the sweep for Cleveland.

“Sweeping Ooltewah twice is huge for our program,” Renshaw said. “It sets the standard for our program and we want to keep it going for the next few years.”

Added Emma Flowers, “We feel good about what we’re doing, but we can’t let up now. We have a lot more to do and we have to keep going strong.”

Statistics

Ooltewah

Macy Milliken – 4 kills, 27 assists, 14 digs, 1 block

Jadyn Raschke – 2 aces, 13 digs

Aubbie Collake – 2 kills, 1 dig

Sidney Killingsworth – 10 kills, 4 digs, 5.5 blocks

Courtney Swafford – 31 digs

Shelby Sutton – 2 kills, 1 assist, 4 digs

Cheyanne Sales – 4 kills, 3 blocks

Anna Maria Novelli – 3 kills, 2 digs

Ally Chernak – 5 assists, 7 digs

Tyler Sullivan – 1 kill

Cleveland

Amber Mormon – 1 dig, 4 kills

Anna Renshaw – 4 aces, 13 digs, 12 kills, 20 assists

Emma Flowers – 11 digs, 24 kills, 13 assists

Hannah Longley – 1 ace, 5 digs

Jessi Towe – 4 digs

Lauren Lee – 1 ace, 32 digs, 1 assist

Lily Oliver – 1 kill

Morgan Moffett – 2 kills

Regan Fuller – 1 ace, 3 digs, 1 kill

Sammie Kate Eason – 2 kills

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

Anna Renshaw of Cleveland makes a set during a District 5-3A volleyball match against Ooltewah on Thursday. The Lady Raiders won 3-0 and moved closer to winning the regular-season championship.
Anna Renshaw of Cleveland makes a set during a District 5-3A volleyball match against Ooltewah on Thursday. The Lady Raiders won 3-0 and moved closer to winning the regular-season championship.
photo by Dennis Norwood
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