by Jaime Lackey
posted October 30, 2009
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- After sitting through an entire day waiting for its turn to take the court at the state volleyball tournament, Baylor's reward was a match against the team many had predicted would win it.
For the Lady Red Raiders, it was almost worth the wait.
Baylor pushed favored Father Ryan to the brink in the late Division II Class AA losers'-bracket final at MTSU before losing a two-game lead and falling 3-2.
"I think they wanted it," Baylor coach Sarah Lail said. "They were fired up and ready to play. We just let it slip away."
The first ball of the day's final match wasn't served until 10:58 p.m. Eastern, but the Lady Red Raiders came out strong. They used a 6-0 run with three kills from Rachel Travis, plus a kill and an ace from Leslie Franklin, to take the lead at 15-10.
Two kills apiece from Courtney Rhodes and Nicole Sumida, along with a block from the 6-foot-1 sophomore, helped Baylor take the lead and the momentum with a 25-17 win.
In game two, Father Ryan led 18-14 before the Lady Red Raiders came storming back. Sumida served her team to six straight points, a run that included Sumida's ace and three kills from Travis. By then, Baylor's lead was 22-16, and back-to-back aces from Travis finished a 25-17 victory.
The Lady Irish, who had finished as state runner-up to GPS the last two seasons, took control midway through game three, and closed out a 25-20 victory. In game four, Baylor built a 21-15 advantage after three consecutive aces from Sumida, but Father Ryan fought its way back and took the 25-23 win on a side out.
That momentum carried over into the fifth game, where the Lady Irish took a 10-3 lead, but Baylor refused to quit. A kill from Rhodes made it 13-10, and another of her 16 got the Lady Raiders within 14-11, but their season ended at 30-13 with a 15-12 Father Ryan victory in a match that ended at 12:45 a.m. Eastern.
"I just want our seniors to walk away with a sense of pride," Lail said. "And I want our underclassmen to remember what this feels like and have the aspiration to get back here and finish it."
(E-mail Jaime Lackey at jaimenlackey@yahoo.com)
Division II Class AA state tournament
Baylor...........25-25-20-23-12
Father Ryan..17-17-25-25-15
Baylor statistics: Rachel Travis 19 kills, 3 aces, 22 digs; Nicole Sumida 11 kills, 3.5 blocks, 4 aces, 3 digs; Leslie Franklin 46 assists, 2 blocks, 3 kills, 3 aces, 8 digs; Madeline Rose 4 kills, 1.5 blocks, 3 digs; Courtney Rhodes 16 kills, 3 blocks, 19 digs; Katelyn Armstrong 20 digs; Rebecca Schmitt 14 digs, 2 aces.
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