The 2017 high school volleyball season is just now entering its third week, so there are lots of teams still trying to work out the kinks, shore up on weak spots and working hard to find the best combination for future success.
The Soddy Daisy Trojans are one of those teams.
Playing host to the Hixson Wildcats Monday evening, the Lady Trojans made progress in some of those things they’ve been working on and they were able to turn that improvement into a 3-0 win over the Lady Wildcats as they improved to 7-5 with the non-district win.
Hixson was in this match from the start and had seemingly-commanding leads late in both of the first two sets, but they allowed the Lady Trojans a chance to come back and that’s exactly what they did.
Soddy Daisy won by scores of 25-23, 25-22 and 25-18.
“We had a slow start and had to refocus on our goals for this match, but the good news is that we finished well,” said Soddy Daisy coach Libby Peigen following the match.
“We had quite a few unforced errors in the first two sets, but we came back and played much better in the third. It all has to do with our attitude, but when that changed, we perked up and finally started playing like we wanted to win.
“Even when we got behind early, we didn’t panic. We worked hard to fix those early mistakes and were able to earn our points today. We normally play well for about the first 15 points. We’ve been working hard to keep our level of play as high at the end as the beginning. I think we improved in that respect today,” Peigen added.
Hixson coach Janet Tate wasn’t exactly thrilled with the way her team played as the Lady Wildcats fell to 9-5 overall.
“We can hit with anybody, but we didn’t pass well today and that hurt,” Tate began her post-match comments.
“Soddy Daisy has a good team and they served well today, but we hung in there for the most part. I’m not exactly pleased with the way we played, but we’ll learn and we’ll keep working,” she added.
The first set was by far the closest of the three and the score was tied 10 times.
The Lady Trojans broke from an 11-11 tie to take a 15-11 lead before Hixson rallied to score five of the next six points.
A kill from Sierrah Lemons knotted the score at 20-20 for Soddy Daisy before two hitting errors by the Lady Trojans and an ace from Marly Fitzpatrick allowed Hixson to regain the advantage at 23-20.
A block by Rachel Rader knotted the score at 23 before an ace from Kylie Brincks gave Soddy Daisy the lead. A kill by Kelsey Henderson gave the home team the first set and the early advantage.
Five straight service points by Dakota Rawiszer allowed Hixson to stretch a 13-11 lead to 18-11, but the Lady Trojans refused to buckle and got five straight service points from Hannah Rogers to get back in it.
Another ace from Brincks allowed Soddy Daisy to tie the score at 20-20. It was still deadlocked at 22 when a pair of aces from Kyleigh Ward gave the Lady Trojans the lead before a hitting error by Hixson gave Soddy Daisy a 2-0 set lead.
Soddy Daisy never trailed in the third set although the score was tied twice early.
The third ace of the match by Brincks gave Soddy Daisy a commanding 24-15 lead in the final set. Hixson scored three straight points on Lady Trojan hitting errors, but a serve into the net provided the match point for Soddy Daisy.
Lemons had 13 kills to lead the Soddy Daisy attack while Henderson followed with 10. Ward and Rogers both had 17 assists while Brincks had 10 digs. Ward also had four aces on the day.
Shelby Rector had six kills and nine digs to lead Hixson. Abby Rector also had nine digs while Gabby Tench and Rawiszer both finished with six assists.
Hixson will be at home Tuesday to face Signal Mountain while Soddy Daisy travels to Cleveland for a three-way meet with Sale Creek and the Lady Raiders.
HIXSON STATS:
Dakota Rawiszer – 2 aces, 3 kills, 1 block, 7 digs, 6 assists
Kiera Taylor – 1 block, 2 digs
Marly Fitzpatrick – 1 ace, 7 digs
Sydni Byerley – 4 kills
Shelby Rector – 1 ace, 6 kills, 1 block, 9 digs
Abby Rector – 5 kills, 9 digs
Gabby Tench – 1 ace, 1 kill, 5 digs, 6 assists.
SODDY DAISY STATS:
Mikayla Phillips – 3 kills, 1 block, 1 dig, 1 ace
Kyleigh Ward – 5 kills, 17 assists, 4 aces, 6 digs, .5 block
Hannah Rogers – 17 assists, 3 digs
Kelsey Henderson – 10 kills, 1 assist, 1 dig
Sierra Lemons – 13 kills
Mattie Thomas – 1 kill
Alyx Howell – 2 kills
Rachel Rader – 3 kills, 4 digs, 3 aces, .5 block
Kylie Brincks – 2 kills, 10 digs, 3 aces.
(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)