Ooltewah's Rachel Robbs goes high for a kill.
Ooltewah's Lady Owls won every District 6-AAA high school volleyball tournament championship from 1998 until 2004.
That's seven straight.
And then came the nightmare of the 2005 season.
After suffering an opening-round tournament loss to Soddy-Daisy, Ooltewah didn't even get a chance to play for the district title.
That didn't sit well with neither head coach Elaine Peigen nor the Lady Owls.
Ooltewah ended its one season out of the throne room Tuesday night with a 3-1 victory over rival Red Bank in the district championship game at Ooltewah.
"I was very disappointed last year, and the girls were very disappointed last year'' Peigen said. "It was a lesson well learned. We were here at 4 today practicing even though it's fall break.''
Said Rachel Robbs, one of Ooltewah's senior captains, "We remembered last year. Me and Whitney Wulf (the other senior captain) got the girls pumped up today. We were ready to go. My heart is still beating fast. This is great.''
Ooltewah won the first game, 25-19, but then Red Bank roared back to take game two, 27-25. The Lady Owls made it eight titles in nine years by winning the next two games, 25-22 and 25-18.
"We were mentally ready tonight,'' Robbs said. "Some of the younger girls were a little distracted by the Red Bank cheering section. They were making some perverted and rude comments.
"We calmed down the younger girls and used that for ammunition to pump us up even more.''
Ooltewah will carry a 34-15 record into the Region 3-AAA Tournament on Oct. 16-17 at Cleveland Middle School. Red Bank will advance with a 30-11 record, along with the top two teams from District 5-AAA.
"We knew tonight we had to step up,'' Peigen said. "We did some things better tonight, like covering the tips and reading their hitters.''
Before Ooltewah went on its run in 1998, Red Bank coach Susan Thurman and her Lady Lions won 13 straight district titles. They made it 14 titles in 21 years in 2005.
"Ooltewah is a great team,'' Thurman said. "We've batttled them all year.''
The Lady Lions and Lady Owls split two regular-season matches, each team winning on the road.
"I think we played well tonight,'' Thurman said. "We stepped it up a bit from last night, and that's a good thing. I'd like to think the two of us will emerge from the region next week.''
District 6-AAA Final
Red Bank....19 27 22 18
Ooltewah....25 25 25 25
Red Bank Statistics
Melanie Gibson (15 digs, 19 service points)
Erica Shropshire (11 kills)
Eric Massman (7 digs)
Kristen Walker (9 digs)
Christina Teter (5 blocks)
Christine Britt (3 blocks, 8 kills)
Courtney Lawson (8 digs, 15 assists)
Bailee Chastain (16 digs, 12 assists, 15 service points, 11 kills)
Samantha Kodadek (6 blocks)
Ooltewah Statistics
Sarah Smith (11 digs)
Libby Peigen (35 digs)
Courtney Cotter (34 digs, 2 service points, 16 kills)
Amanda Kelley (26 digs, 9 service points, 2 blocks, 2 kills)
Taylor Gatewood (13 service points, 6 blocks, 7 kills)
Whitney Wulf (8 service points, 7 blocks, 5 kills)
Gretchen Higdon (6 kills, 2 blocks, 11 digs, 6 service points, 52 assists)
Rachel Robbs (24 digs, 10 service points, 2 blocks, 17 kills)
All-Tournament Team
Soddy-Daisy--Brittany Haney
Red Bank--Melanie Gibson, Erin Massman, Christine Britt, Bailee Chastain
Ooltewah--Courtney Cotter, Taylor Gatewood, Whitney Wulf, Gretchen Higdon, Rachel Robbs
(E-mail Stan Crawley at wscrawley@earthlink.net)
Amanda Kelley dives for the ball in front of teammates Libby Peigen, left, and Rachel Robbs.