The CCS bench celebrates a point.
photo by M. A. Locke
Monday, August 14 will be one of those days that Sarah Davis will remember for a long, long time and it’s all for the right reasons.
Her Chattanooga Christian volleyball team opened its season on Monday with a three-set sweep of host Lookout Valley and that came only hours after Davis signed the dotted line on the purchase of her first house.
It was the first match for both teams and both coaches appeared to be pleased following the 25-19, 25-14 and 25-17 win by the Lady Chargers in Lookout Valley’s Joe C. Galloway Gymnasium.
The first set was the closest and most competitive while the Lady Chargers dominated the second set from start to finish. Then in the third set with CCS holding a commanding 15-7 lead, the Lady Jackets made things interesting by scoring nine straight points to a 16-15 lead, only to watch as the Lady Chargers regained their focus to put the match away.
“I feel really good about the way my girls played as I was just looking for improvement, consistency, communication, and effort. I think they responded with all of those,” Davis said after the match ended.
“We’ve made so much progress in the past three months, but the key for us today was putting the ball in the hands of our best hitters and they came through. And I’m really proud of how we bounced back after they tied the score in that final set. We’ve never been able to bounce back like that, but our mindset is changing and I liked the way we responded,” she added.
Lookout Valley coach Dan Basler saw a lot of good things in spite of the loss.
“Chattanooga Christian has a good team and they’re in a larger class than us, so that’s one reason we scheduled them,” he began.
“It’s just the first match and we have a lot of stuff to work on, but we played aggressively and that’s what I was looking for. It was nice the way we bounced back in that third set as we just kept battling, but our serve receive is what hurt us more than anything. We had a hard time picking up some of their shots to the corners,” Basler added.
The score was tied 10 times in the first set, the last time at 18-18. The Lady Jackets got three straight points from Caitlin Pruitt to gain the upper hand at 18-15 before Grace Logterman had five straight points for the Lady Chargers.
A long serve allowed Lookout Valley to get within 21-19 before kills from Summer Jones, Savannah Ricketts and Jenny Armao allowed the Lady Chargers to win by scoring the final four points.
The two teams traded points at the start of the second set before A.J. Johnson had six straight points for CCS, including three of her team-high eight aces, as the lead was quickly 8-1 before Basler called a timeout to try to change the momentum.
Lookout Valley was able to make it a little closer as CCS had at least four service errors in the last 10 points, but the hole was simply too deep for the Lady Jackets to escape.
The score was tied at 5-5 in the final set before the Lady Chargers scored 10 of the next 12 points and appeared to be well on their way to their first win.
The Lady Jackets may have been down, but they were far from out, as they responded in a positive way after another Basler timeout.
Savannah Rains had a nice run where she had eight straight service points to turn an eight-point deficit into a one-point lead, but prosperity didn’t last long as Johnson finished off the match with five straight points.
Johnson was the leader for CCS with 11 kills, eight aces, and 18 digs while Emily Day had 11 assists and Jones 23 digs.
Breanna Sexton had four kills and three blocks for Lookout Valley while Scarlett Hamrick and Rains both a had a dozen digs, Haven Haines six assists and Amber Walliser six digs.
Both teams return to action on Tuesday and both will be at home as Lookout Valley faces Notre Dame while CCS will entertain Soddy Daisy.
Tuesday will be another memorable day for Davis as Soddy Daisy is her alma mater and Soddy Daisy coach Libby Peigen was her college roommate at Lee University.
SALE CREEK WON its first match of the season as they beat visiting Hixson by scores of 25-17, 25-14 and 25-19. Abby Rector had five kills and 13 digs for Hixson while Anna Zeigler had four kills, seven digs, four assists and three aces.
CHATTANOOGA CHRISTIAN STATS:
Julie Adams – 1 kill, 1 block, 1 dig
Emily Day – 11 assists, 2 kills, 1 dig
A.J. Johnson – 11 kills, 8 aces, 18 digs
Mary Vandergriff – 1 kill
Bailey Lancaster – 5 assists
Brieana Hemphill – 3 kills, 2 blocks, 2 digs
Reagan Simpson – 3 digs
Summer Jones – 1 assist, 2 kills, 5 aces, 23 digs
Rachel Kay – 6 assists, 2 aces, 3 digs
Jenny Armao – 2 kills, 1 block, 1 dig
Grace Logterman – 5 kills, 3 aces, 3 blocks, 1 dig\
Savannah Ricketts – 5 kills, 1 ace, 3 digs.
LOOKOUT VALLEY STATS:
Savannah Rains – 2 kills, 3 aces, 12 digs
Caitlin Pruitt – 2 kills, 2 aces, 7 digs
Haven Haines – 6 assists, 2 digs
Rylee Morton – 2 kills, 2 assists, 2 digs
Breanna Sexton – 4 kills, 3 blocks, 1 dig
Josse Reed – 1 kill, 2 digs
Amber Walliser – 6 digs
Scarlett Hamrick – 1 kill, 1 ace, 12 digs.
HIXSON STATS:
Anna Zeigler -- 3 aces, 4 kills, 7 digs, 4 assists
Abby Rector -- 5 kills, 13 digs
Shelby Rector -- 2 kills, 3 digs, 2 blocks
Dakota Rawiszer -- 1 ace, 3 kills, 3 digs, 2 blocks, 4 assists
Kiera Taylor -- 1 ace, 3 kills, 4 digs
Gabby Tench -- 1 ace, 3 digs, 8 assists
Marly Fitzpatrick -- 7 digs
Rickell Crutcher -- 1 kill
Rachel Cline -- 5 digs
Blake Burba -- 1 dig.
(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)
