Rectors Lead Hixson Past Lady Bucs In Season Opener

Lady Wildcats Earn First Win For First-Year Heach Coach Robert Catlett

  • Monday, August 13, 2018
  • John Hunt

Robert Catlett may have been a little bit nervous before Hixson’s first volleyball match of the season Monday evening, but the guy who is now the head coach for the Lady Wildcats after many years as their assistant didn’t seem to show it.

Hixson hosted the Boyd-Buchanan Lady Buccaneers in both team’s season opener and it was also the first match for first year Lady Buc coach Maggie Brown.

Hixson won the match in four sets, but both teams showed a lot of promise and both showed that it’s really early in the season.

“I always knew that there was so much to take care of as a head coach, but the coaching part is easy.  This was my debut as a high school head coach and my girls made me look good.  The season is finally here and I love it,” he said after his team had prevailed by scores of 25-20, 25-11, 15-25 and 25-16.

“We have a young team with only three seniors and two juniors, but they’re experienced volleyball players who know what to do most of the time.  I thought we played well overall until we got to that third set and I’m not sure what happened then.  I think we may have lost our focus a little bit, but we’re still learning and I’m confident that we’ll get there.

“Shelby Rector really impressed me.  She’s one of our seniors who really played well today.  She has the ability to be one of our better hitters, but hadn’t had too many kills before today.  She had a bunch in this match as she really came alive,” Catlett added.

Boyd-Buchanan’s Brown had a smile on her face the entire match and it’s easy to see how much she loves her new job, but there are a few things she saw that need to be better and she’s confident her team will only continue to improve.

“Volleyball can be a physical sport, but we need to be mentally tougher,” she began after a post-match chat with her team.

“We’re still figuring out how to work together as a team and I know we have a lot of potential, but we may have had the first match jitters today.  I don’t think we played especially well as a whole, but we had some outstanding moments.

“I really liked what I saw from Zoe Pryor’s serving.  She put the ball right where it needed to be and her serving in the third set was a key for us.  That fueled our fire and helped us to play better in that set than we did the rest of the match.

“I’m a positive person and I have all the confidence in the world in this team.  I’m sure we’ll be there before the season ends,” she ended on an optimistic note.

Hixson never trailed in the first set.

Five straight service points from Abby Rector stretched a 4-2 lead to 9-2 while five more from Gabby Tench a few minutes later extended the difference to 19-10. The Lady Bucs battled back and got within four at 20-16 but Shelby Rector had two of her match-high 16 kills and the Lady Wildcats were able to hang on for the early advantage.

Three early hitting errors by Hixson allowed the Lady Bucs to take a 3-0 lead in the second set before Abby Rector went to the service line and knocked down nine straight points for a 13-6 lead following another kill from her older sister.

It wasn’t long until the Lady Wildcats had secured the second set for a commanding 2-0 lead.

Hixson scored the first three points of the third set and had a 12-8 lead when Pryor went to the service line.

The petite, southpaw junior then turned things around with a dozen straight points, including two aces, to give her team a lift and a 20-12 lead.  Three straight hitting errors by Hixson at the end allowed the Lady Bucs to win their only set of the match.

A hitting error to start the fourth set allowed the Lady Bucs to take a 1-0 lead before Hixson scored six of the next seven points and the Lady Wildcats never trailed again, claiming match point an Makenna Seitz’ only ace of the game.

Shelby Rector had 10 digs, three assists and three blocks to go with her 16 kills to lead Hixson while Abby Rector had 26 digs, seven kills and four aces.  Tench had 19 assists, 19 digs in addition to nine kills and four aces while Annie Zeigler had a dozen assists and 11 digs.

Seitz had 17 digs while Blake Burba had 12 digs.

Julia Headrick had 16 digs and 11 kills to lead the Lady Bucs while Katie Culver had 11 assists and six digs.

Pryor had 15 digs to go along with her six aces while Madison Taylor had 15 digs and sister Abigail Taylor 10 digs.

Both teams return to action on Tuesday with Hixson visiting Soddy Daisy and the Lady Bucs hosting Berean Academy.

CHATTANOOGA CHRISTIAN got a dozen kills and 16 digs from Summer Jones and 14 kills and 12 digs from A.J. Johnson as the Lady Chargers won a thrilling five-set match at home against Walker Valley.

CCS won the first two sets by scores of 25-15 and 25-19 before the Lady Mustangs evened the score with 25-23 and 25-19 wins in the third and fourth sets.  CCS then won the tie breaker by a 15-11 final in the opening match for both teams.

BOYD-BUCHANAN STATS:

Julia Headrick – 16 digs, 11 kills, 3 assists, 1.5 blocks, 3 aces

Katie Culver – 6 digs, 2 kills, 11 assists

Ivy Henderson – 2 digs, 2 kills, 1 ace

Abigail Taylor – 10 digs

Zoe Pryor – 15 digs, 6 aces

Madison Taylor – 15 digs, 1 kill, 2 aces.

HIXSON STATS:

Riley Bellamy – 3 kills, 1 block

Blake Burba – 12 digs

Rickell Crutcher – 5 kills, 5 digs

Abby Rector – 4 aces, 7 kills, 26 digs

Shelby Rector – 10 digs, 3 assists, 16 kills, 3 blocks

Makenna Seitz – 1 ace, 17 digs

Gabby Tench – 4 aces, 9 kills, 19 assists, 19 digs

Annie Zeigler – 1 ace, 1 kill, 12 assists, 11 digs

Ava Rogers – 2 aces, 8 kills, 3 digs.

CHATTANOOGA CHRISTIAN STATS:

Rachel Kay – 27 assists, 1 ace, 5 digs

Emily Day – 21 assists, 2 kills, 1 ace, 3 digs

A.J. Johnson – 14 kills, 1 ace, 12 digs

Savannah Ricketts – 3 kills, 1 block, 5 digs

Abbey Massey – 1 assist, 6 kills

Avery Ray – 1 kill

Grace Logterman – 7 kills, 6 blocks

Jolie Adams – 7 kills, 2 blocks

Summer Jones – 12 kills 1 ace, 16 digs

Lauren Kay – 1 assist, 1 kill, 3 digs

Lauren Day – 2 assists, 3 aces, 14 digs.

(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)

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