Lady Lions, Lady Owls Advance To Region
by Stan Crawley
posted October 14, 2008
) Photo by Greg Davick A Red Bank set. |
She gave coach Christel Helton this thought, “Champions are consistently successful because they put blinders on to be successful.’’
With Tuesday’s championship match at Central High tied at one game each, Red Bank fell behind by 6-1 in the third game. That’s when Helton called a critical timeout. She first yelled at her players, then told them to relax.
“I told them there was no pressure, that this wasn’t an elimination match,’’ she said. “I told them just to play their game and to remember Bailey’s thought – to put on their blinders and only focus on what was in front of them.’’
The timeout and words paid dividends as Red Bank won the third and fourth games and earned the district championship, 3-1 (26-28, 26-24, 25-15, 25-20).
Both Red Bank (42-8) and Ooltewah (28-23) advance to next week’s Region 3 Tournament, which will be played at either Walker Valley or Cleveland.
Helton succeeded legendary Red Bank coach Susan Thurman this year.
“When I got the job I said I was in the ideal situation,’’ Helton said. “It was a dream job to fill her shoes.’’
Said Thurman, who watched from the stands Tuesday night, “Christel has done a great job. They have really improved.’’
After Helton’s timeout in the third game, senior middle blocker Christina Teter played exceptionally well.
“She dominated the net,’’ Helton said. “But we had to have it all from the other players to make her successful. Her blocking really set the tone tonight for us.
“We’ve really been working hard on our blocking, stressing that. We’ve been trying to be very smart at the net.’’
Helton also bragged on her back row (Lyness, Melanie Gibson and Olivia Hollis) and the versatile play of junior Courtney Lawson.
“I can’t give enough credit to our back row,’’ Helton said. “They had so many digs, got so many balls up tonight.
“And Courtney Lawson is just Courtney Lawson. She gives it her all every night. She is definitely our catalyst.’’
Ooltewah coach Elaine Peigen also had praise for her team, which upset Soddy-Daisy in a Monday night semifinal.
“We’re pleased,’’ she said. “We feel fortunate to be playing in the finals. I never thought we could have improved this much. All of our players have improved, every one of them.
“In the second game, they took away our momentum, but Red Bank is a very good, very quick volleyball team.’’
TUESDAY’S SCORES
Ooltewah…………………28…24…15…20
Red Bank…………………26…26…25…25
STATISTICS
OOLTEWAH
Loren Bennett (5 digs, 4 service points, 12 assists)
Nikki Brooks (11 kills, 35 digs, 2 blocks)
Libby Peigen (10 kills, 25 digs, 4 aces, 10 service points)
Alex Martin (8 kills, 6 blocks, 7 digs)
Bri Shoemake (35 digs, 3 aces, 11 service points)
Morgan Sullivan (11 kills, 2 digs)
Audra Morgan (2 kills, 10 digs, 3 aces, 6 service points)
Kennisha Cook (2 kills, 7 digs, 2 aces, 9 service points, 18 assists)
Kianna Delaney (2 kills, 6 blocks, 2 digs)
RED BANK
Melanie Gibson (29 digs, 3 aces)
Kalyn Helton (13 kills, 1 block)
Sarah Hall (1 kill, 2 digs)
Olivia Hollis (2 digs, 1 ace)
Bailey Lyness (21 digs, 2 aces)
Christina Teter (15 kills, 3 blocks, 2 aces)
Haley Blackburn (18 assists, 2 aces, 9 digs)
Courtney Lawson (13 kills, 28 assists, 13 digs)
Kamron Adkins (8 kills)
Ashley Reed (2 kills, 1 block, 3 digs)
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Soddy-Daisy—Andrea Johnson.
Ooltewah—Nikki Brooks, Libby Peigen, Bri Shoemake, Morgan Sullivan.
Red Bank—Melanie Gibson, Kalyn Helton, Bailey Lyness, Christian Teter, Courtney Lawson.
(E-mail Stan Crawley at wscrawley@earthlink.net)
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