Helton, Lawson Lead Lionettes; Parham Pioneer Star
by John Hunt
posted September 3, 2008
The Red Bank volleyball team is on a roll right now.
The Lionettes would like nothing better than to claim a championship trophy in the 21st Annual Choo Choo Volleyball Tournament, which will be held at East Ridge and Red Bank on Friday and Saturday.
Red Bank only lost one player to graduation, so there’s plenty of experience for coach Christel Helton.
You can tell they’ve played together for awhile as each young lady knows what her role is and they all seem to play well as a team.
That was certainly the case Wednesday afternoon as they defeated the East Ridge Lady Pioneers in the friendly confines of the Susan Ingram Thurman Gymnasium.
Red Bank won the first game by a 25-17 final while the last two had identical scores of 25-16.
Red Bank improves to 10-1 with Wednesday’s win.
Their only loss came against a talented Dobyns-Bennett team in the Bradley Bash last weekend.
However, the Lionettes got the last laugh in that one when they beat that same team of Lady Indians for the championship on Saturday.
Red Bank’s Helton would love nothing more than to see her girls claim the top prize in this weekend’s event, one of the largest volleyball tournaments in the Southeast.
“Red Bank has been runner-up in that tournament on several occasions, but we’ve never won it. We would really like to win it this year,” Helton said after the win over East Ridge.
“I thought we played pretty consistent volleyball today. We served well, we passed well and we hit it well. Every part of our game was clicking,” she continued.
“We know that East Ridge has a good team, so we knew we couldn’t let up, but we have a lot of experience on this year’s team and that’s an advantage for us.
“We have some key district matches next week against Soddy Daisy, Ooltewah and Central, so we need to keep working hard. But I’m pleased with the way we played today,” she concluded.
The Lady Pioneers are now 4-4 overall after Wednesday’s loss.
Even with the setback, coach Catherine Neely had plenty of positives to reflect on.
“I was encouraged by our play today. We were working on making some changes during today’s match. Even though we lost, we did some good things out there.
"Of course, we can’t afford to make the mental mistakes like we did today, but we’re young in spots and we’re still learning how to play together,” Neely said.
Senior Takeisha Parham set the pace for East Ridge with 10 kills and three blocks.
Meagan Arand had six kills, two aces and 18 digs while Meredith Brock added two kills, an ace and 10 digs.
Paige Atterton finished with 12 assists and three kills while Kelli Crawford had 12 digs and Haven Carter 12 assists.
Dimon Darden finished with six kills while Bekah Bolis had three digs and Shalonda Fugh had two blocks.
Holly Thompson finished the day with one ace and five digs.
Sophomore Kalyn Helton played a big role for Red Bank as she dominated at the net with 13 kills.
Courtney Lawson also had a big day with three kills, 22 assists and 11 digs.
Christina Teter was another force at the net as she finished with 10 kills and three blocks.
Haley Blackburn was credited with nine assists while Melanie Gibson recorded 18 digs.
Bailey Lyness had a dozen digs and was one of Red Bank’s most effective servers while Olivia Hollis had eight digs.
Ashley Reed had five kills while Savannah Smith had three kills.
The Choo Choo tournament starts Friday with pool play.
The first match at East Ridge is set for 3 while the first match at Red Bank will start at 4.
The tournament resumes at 9 a.m. on Saturday with the finals scheduled around 7 p.m. at East Ridge.
(email John Hunt at tnmoose2002@aol.com)
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