Madysun Steele rams a kill past Loretto's Bailey Brown in the opening round of the Class 1A state volleyball tournament Tuesday in Murfreesboro. The Lady Panthers lost, 3-1, and had to play Memphis East later in the night to stay alive.
photo by Dennis Norwood
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – It wasn’t Sale Creek’s day in the TSSAA Class 1A state volleyball tournament Tuesday.
Fortunately, the Lady Panthers (36-7) are heavily favored to extend their stay in Murfreesboro when they took on Memphis East (17-2) in an 8 p.m. CT in one of the day’s final two matches at Middle Tennessee State University.
The Lady Panthers, making their third straight appearance at state, were victimized by Loretto, 3-1, by scores of 25-22, 23-25, 25-20 and 25-16.
South Greene advanced to play South Greene in the winner’s bracket semifinals.
South Greene clubbed Memphis East 3-0 (25-8, 25-8 and 25-7).
“We were up five points in the third and their libero (Jaden Ezell) scored eight straight points,” Sale Creek coach Debbie Hill said. “We went from five up to three down. That was that one.”
Madysun Steele and Sydney Gibson combined to record 26 kills and 10 blocks for the Lady Panthers. Jayda Perry put up 36 assists and 15 digs. Avery Cox added 19 digs, Steele 13 and Allison Smith 12.
Sale Creek was up 19-18 in the first set, but the Lady Mustangs went on an 8-3 run to close out the win.
The second set was tied 23-all and Sale Creek scored the final two points to even the match. The Lady Mustangs battled their way into a 23-20 advantage in the third and won on two straight Sale Creek errors.
“We made 24 errors in the match,” Hill said. “That’s pretty high. That’s like we gave them one set.”
The Lady Panthers held shaky a 15-13 lead in the fourth. Loretto ripped off five straight points and built an 18-15 spread. Sale Creek pulled to within 19-16 only to watch the Lady Mustangs seal the deal with six consecutive points.
“Now we’ve got to dig our way through the loser’s bracket and we’ll be facing more good teams,” Hill said. “If we play like we did in the second set, we can do it, but we’ve got to pick it up a notch.”
Sale Creek Stats vs. Loretto
Madysun Steele – 10 kills, 13 digs, 3 aces, 4 blocks
Sydney Gibson – 16 kills, 2 digs, 1 ace, 6 blocks
Reagan Ayres – 6 kills, 2 digs, 1 block
Lillie Morgan – 4 kills, 1 dig, 3 aces
Jayda Perry – 36 assists, 8 kills, 15 digs, 2 aces
Avery Cox – 19 digs, 1 kill, 1 assist, 1 ace
Allison Smith – 12 digs
Sophia Dozier – 2 digs
Kayla Phillips – 1 kill, 1 dig, 1 ace, two blocks
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)