Cleveland knocked Ooltewah off its District 3-5A volleyball leading perch on Tuesday for the first time in four-plus years, and it was certainly not a fluke.
The Lady Blue Raiders swept the perennial title contending Lady Owls, 3-0, at Edward M. Foster Gymnasium by dominating up front with power from junior hitter Emma Flowers, strong serving by Hannah Longley, minimal mistakes and dealt Ooltewah its first league loss since 2012.
Ooltewah was a perfect 41-0 in district play over the past three-plus seasons, but that crumbled under the weight of Cleveland’s solid play. The Lady Raiders (15-6, 6-0) won by set scores of 25-17, 25-20, 25-12.
“This is an amazing feeling and I’m glad I get to share it with my mom (Trish, Cleveland’s coach),” Flowers said. “This is the first time we’ve beaten Ooltewah – I’m going to tear up – since probably around 2009 or 2010 and we did it in three sets and that makes it even sweeter. And we did it here at Ooltewah.
“I can’t wait to get them at our place.”
The rematch is scheduled at Cleveland on Sept. 22 at 6 p.m.
The Lady Owls (16-8, 5-1), who won a school-record 52 games in 2002 and have posted 40-plus wins seven times since 2006, captured the past four district tournament titles and 12 dating to the 2000 campaign.
Over the last 10 matches against Cleveland, including the regular season, in-season and postseason tournaments, Ooltewah had won them all. In 30 sets, Cleveland had won just three.
But Tuesday belonged to the Lady Raiders.
“This was really quite a shocker,” Trish Flowers said. “We expected this to go at least four sets, maybe even five. I watched them play Walker Valley and Walker Valley took them to five. Our girls stepped up and played great.
“I was more concerned about our confidence than anything. This is the first time these seniors have beaten Ooltewah. We used to be lucky to win a set from them. I’m proud of my girls. It was a good win.”
Conversely, it was the first loss to Cleveland for Ooltewah’s seniors, a group that includes Aubbie Collake.
“We were the only two undefeated teams in the district coming in,” Collake said. “We knew they were good and they played well, but we made a ton of mistakes that we shouldn’t have made. They were energetic and we weren’t, and that showed. They would get into scoring spurts and we’d score and as soon as we got the ball back we’d give it right back to them.”
The match started an hour late, but Cleveland came out with something to prove – that it belongs in this year’s title conversation.
And Emma Flowers quickly set the tone for the match.
Flowers, who provides Cleveland with a powerful up-front weapon that Ooltewah enjoyed for several years, most recently with Alex Biro and Courtlyn Ison, had the Lady Raiders on her shoulders from the outset.
“It feels good to have the big hitter on our side instead of playing against the team with the big hitter,” coach Flowers said. “I think Emma’s definitely among the top two hitters in the Chattanooga area. (Baylor’s) Gabby Gray has a little more power, but Emma is probably more consistent; she’s a little more versatile because she sets a lot. And we’ve got a great libero in Morgan Moffett, who has filled that role for four years.”
The younger Flowers was credited with nine of her 19 kills in the first set and scored four of Cleveland’s first six points, including four slams the Lady Owls’ defense couldn’t handle. She also notched 21 digs and 12 assists.
With the Owls holding a 12-11 lead, Longley began a sensational serving stretch that enabled the Lady Raiders to go on a 10-0 run that ended in a 21-12 lead.
After Regan Fuller’s slam sailed long, Anna Renshaw scored on a tap and Longley, a junior, scored three consecutive service points and she added a fourth for the 21st point. However, her next serve went past the backline to end the impressive offensive spurt.
“I’ve been working on my jump serve and I think I perfected it in this match,” Longley said. “That was the best I’ve served all year and I’ve never served that many times in a row, even in practice or with the junior varsity team.
“It made me feel productive and I’m glad I could help the team because that’s my strong suit.”
Flowers’ kill gave Cleveland a 23-16 lead. Her slap shot went side-out and then Ooltewah’s Anna Maria Novelli was errant on a tap and long with a kill shot to give the Lady Raiders their final two points.
“I think we relied on them to make errors instead of playing our game and us scoring points for us,” said Ooltewah’s Sidney Killingsworth, who had half he eight kills in the first set. “We definitely didn’t play our game, that’s for sure.”
Cleveland led the second set 5-3 when Ooltewah’s Courtney Swafford – she had 20 digs in the match -- scored on a slam, but the Lady Raiders ran off five in a row, three coming on Lady Owl misplays. Flowers had a kill and Anna Renshaw a slap-winner.
The Lady Raiders had a 16-12 advantage when they scored six of seven points to extend the margin to 22-13. Lauren Lee, credited with 26 digs, scored twice; Amber Mormon added a tap and Jessi Towe threw in a kill during the spree.
A 24-20, Flowers’ kill chalked up the 25th point.
Ooltewah was looking up from a deep 2-0 hole.
“We need to be ready to play ball as soon as we step into the gym,” Collake said. “We didn’t overlook them, but I don’t think our heads were in the game as much as they should have been.”
Maintaining the scoring trend in the third set, Cleveland broke away from a 9-8 nail-biter to score nine of the next 11 points – Flowers had two kills, Longley had one of her five aces, and Renshaw added a service point and two-hand tap and Towe tipped for a point.
Flowers’ serve cleared the backline for Ooltewah’s 11th point. The Lady Raiders put up seven of the final eight points for the win – Mormon had two kills and a block down the stretch and Morgan Moffett’s slap ended the set and match.
“(Cleveland) deserved to win,” Ooltewah coach Elaine Peigen said. “They’re a great team. We made too many unforced errors and weren’t ready to play ball. Our girls have to start believing that they can be a great team too. They can play ball with the best teams if they pick up their play and stop making so many errors.
“We need to practice, work on our offense, communicating and our defense. Our serves need to be more aggressive. We can do it if they’re willing to do it. And they will be. I told the girls they have to bring their ‘A’ game every day and I’m not sure we brought our ‘A’ game today. I’m not being negative about them, but there are things we need to work on to be ready to play ball.”
STATISTICS
Cleveland
Amber Mormon – 2 digs, 7 kills, 2 blocks
Anna Renshaw – 1 ace, 7 kills, 21 assists, 16 digs
Emma Flowers – 1 ace, 21 digs, 19 kills, 12 assists
Hannah Longley – 5 aces, 8 digs
Jessi Towe – 3 digs, 2 kills
Lauren Lee – 2 aces, 26 digs, 1 assist
Lily Oliver – 1 kill
Lydia Martin – 1 dig
Morgan Moffett – 3 kills
Nicole Glaser – 1 kill
Regan Fuller – 2 digs, 1 kill
Sammie Kate Eason – 2 digs
Sophia Lakatosh – 2 digs.
Ooltewah
Sidney Killingsworth – 8 kills, 5 digs, 2 blocks
Aubbie Collake – 1 kill, 2 digs
Sydney Alleman – 7 digs
Shelby Sutton – 2 kills, 1 ace, 12 digs
Jadyn Raschke – 5 digs
Courtney Swafford – 1 kills, 20 digs
Anna Maria Novelli – 2 kills, 1 dig
Macy Milliken – 1 kill, 11 assists, 9 digs
Cheyanne Sales – 2 kills, 1 dig
Madalyn Mills – 6 digs
Ally Chernak – 3 digs, 1 assist
Mabry Carpenter – 1 dig
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)