Walker Valley Deals Ooltewah Early Exit From 5-3A Volleyball Tourney

Lady Mustangs Win 3-0 For Shot At Cleveland In Title Match

Monday, October 2, 2017
Larry Fleming

CLEVELAND, Tenn. – Ooltewah’s annual appearance in postseason volleyball play was just a spin around the block.

Second-seeded Walker Valley swept the Lady Owls 3-0 Monday night in the District 5-3A tournament at Bradley Central and rolled into Tuesday’s championship game. Set scores were 25-16, 25-23, 25-11.

“We’re all disappointed,” Lady Owls coach Elaine Peigen said.

“We just couldn’t put anything together. We never got our offense or defense working smoothly.”

District 5-3A MVP Emma Flowers had 15 kills and led top-seed Cleveland (29-15) to a 3-0 rout of McMinn County in the night’s final match. Set score for the Lady Blue Raiders (29-15) were 25-16, 25-15, 25-8.

The victory set up Tuesday’s championship showdown between the Lady Raiders and Walker Valley at 6 p.m. Cleveland swept the regular-season series, but was by its rival to five sets in each match.

The two finalists earned a spot in next week’s Region 3-3A tournament, with winner hosting District 6-3A squads for berths in the sectional round.

“You never know what’s going to happen when you show up for a Walker Valley-Cleveland volleyball match,” Cleveland coach Trish Flowers said. “There will be times when both teams are carrying the momentum and the team that can carry it the longest with make the fewest mistakes will be the winner.”

The Lady Cherokees (7-15) knocked off Bradley Central (8-22) by a 3-1 count in the first of three matches to open the tournament by set scores 25-19, 15-25, 25-17, 25-22. It was the Lady Cherokees’ first-ever tournament victory and second league triumph in 12 years, with the other one a win over Bradley in 2016.

Walker Valley coach Judy Pruett watched her team take care of business and get another crack at the Lady Blue Raiders.

“I think we played well,” Pruett said. “We knew we had to play at the top of our game because we knew Ooltewah wanted to beat us. The girls did a great job and we’re excited to be going to region.”

Walker Valley (23-12), which defeated Ooltewah four times this season, including two league games and a weekend tournament, set the tone for the Monday’s match by jumping into a 7-0 lead.

Carissa Frost had two aces while Anna Grace Jackson and Aly Grace Lemons each added two kills in the opening offensive burst.

The Lady Owls (19-15) battled back to within striking distance at 18-13, but the Lady Mustangs went on a 6-2 run – again Lemons had two kills and Jackson tossed in a kill and ace – to move Walker Valley within a point an opening-set win. Carly Buckner got that point on a tap.

In the last couple games against Ooltewah, we hit a lot of balls to their libero (Mabry Carpenter, who plans to play college softball at Chattanooga State) and she’s really good. This time we tried to stay away from that.”

The Lady Mustangs had a 21-17 lead after Buckner’s two-hand push in the second set.

Ooltewah scored four straight points on a block by Cheyanne Sales, an Ariel Reed ace, Ally Chernak’s block and an error. Minutes later the game was tied at 23-all after Lemons’ kill sailed long.

Chernak, who will play college softball at East Tennessee State, had a solid performance with six kills, six assists, nine digs and four aces. Sales finished with five kills, three blocks and one dig.

Back-to-back unforced errors provided Walker Valley with the final two points and a commanding 2-0 lead.

With their backs against the wall, the Lady Owls fell behind 6-2 and trailed 9-6 before the Lady Mustangs decided to deliver a knockout punch.

Walker Valley went on an 8-1 run with the scoring spread among four players and Ooltewah was guilty of four errors to open a 17-7 advantage.

The Lady Owls scored twice, the Lady Mustangs scored three points on a Frost ace and two Ooltewah errors to push the score to 20-9.

Ooltewah scored back-to-back points, but Walker Valley rang up the final five to chalk up the win, the last coming on Sale’s strong kill that zoomed over the baseline.

“This was a fun team to coach,” Peigen said. “I wish we could have gone further.”

Cleveland 3, McMinn County 0: The Lady Raiders gained a big dose of momentum with a strong showing in the Mid-Tennessee Classic over the weekend, winning six of eight matches and losing to Hutchinson in the Gold Bracket title game.

“We showed a lot of growth in team chemistry over there,” Flowers said. “There are different philosophies about whether you should take a break or keep playing before the district tournament. I think it gives us an edge by playing some stiff competition before we start district.

“But the girls still had to show up and play (Monday).”

Included in Cleveland’s Mid-Tennessee showing was a 2-1 win over Hazel Green, a 2016 Alabama state champion.

The positive end to the regular season certainly carried over to the district opener for the Lady Raiders, who placed six players on the All-District 5-3A team officially announced prior to Monday’s final match.

Hannah Longley, Anna Renshaw, Sophia Lakatosh, Joy Douglass and Lydia Martin joined Emma Flowers on the squad that swept all four district foes this season.

There were plenty of highlights stat-wise for the all-star players:

Flowers had seven of her 15 kills in the second set. She now has 653 kills on the season.

Longley had 14 digs and three aces. She has 679 serve receptions and 518 digs going into the title game.

Douglass tossed in eight digs and two kills.

Renshaw had 17 assists, five kills and six kills. For the season, she has 697 assists.

Lakatosh finished with three aces and four kills.

Martin was credited with seven digs.

Trish Flowers said the Lady Raiders have to turn in a solid serving effort against Walker Valley the third time around. They missed 10 in the first regular-season contest and 22 in the second.

“We can be a really good serving team when we want to be,” the coach said. “We have to remember what the Cleveland girls need to be successful – encouragement, to know that everybody has each other’s back and that they’ll be happy for each other.

“If the stars align it could be a good night.”

STATISTICS

Ooltewah

Mabry Carpenter – 2 assists, 19 digs, 1 ace

Tyler Sullivan – 3 kills, 1 dig, 1 ace

Ally Chernak – 6 kills, 6 assists, 9 digs, 4 aces

Macy Milliken – 3 kills, 6 assists, 9 digs

Audrey Jennings – 1 kill

Sakari Pack – 3 kills, 3 digs

Madalyn Mills – 12 digs, 2 aces

Ariel Reed – 8 digs, 1 ace

Cheyanne Sales – 5 kills, 3 blocks, 1 dig