Baylor's Elaine Redman, right, sets the ball cross-court during the Lady Red Raiders' DII-AA quarterfinal match against Father Ryan. Baylor swept the Irish, 3-0 (25-14, 25-17, 25-19) to punch their ticket to the TSSAA State Tournament next week in Murfreesboro. Also pictured are Baylor's Sierra Herndon, left, and Father Ryan's Bella cartwright (12) and Mason Morrow (7).
photo by Dennis Norwood
Sarah Lail has been Baylor’s volleyball coach for the past 11 years.
And now, the Lady Red Raiders can make plans for their 11th straight trip to Murfreesboro for the annual state tournament after defeating Father Ryan for the second time this season at Baylor Saturday afternoon.
On a rainy afternoon when senior Madison Cope celebrated her 18th birthday, Baylor made quick work of the Lady Irish, beating them in three straight sets by scores of 25-14, 25-17 and 25-19.
The Lady Red Raiders are now 29-8 overall while Father Ryan ends its season at 19-11.
Coach Lail can be superstitious at times and basically refuses to talk about future matches ahead of time, namely next week’s tournament.
But after her team played one of their best matches of the season when everything seemed to be clicking on all cylinders, Lail was able to relax and smile after Saturday’s job had been completed.
“I’m super proud of these girls as they’ve worked extremely hard to get to this point. This was certainly one of our best performances of the season, mainly because of our energy and fight” Lail said following the match that took just over an hour to complete.
“Elaine Redman had a great match against them earlier in the season and we knew that Father Ryan would focus on trying to shut her down, but Tess (Margio), Sierra (Herndon) and Holland (Moss) all stepped up and did a great job. It was really a total team effort, but we passed and served really well today.
“We need to enjoy this one today because we face a huge challenge next week. Four really good teams will be there and any of the four have the ability to win. It will be an absolute battle that will include some great volleyball,” Lail predicted.
Father Ryan has played some really close matches with Baylor in the past. The Lady Irish came to town hoping to pull off an improbable upset, but it never materialized.
Coach Ann Mullins watched her girls battle for all they were worth. Unfortunately for them, Baylor was the better team on Saturday.
“This wasn’t our best day, but Baylor played a great match,” Mullins said after a lengthy post-match chat with her team.
“There’s nothing that can make us feel better at this point, but I’m totally confident that we’ll be back. We had a great season with a whole lot to be proud of, so we don’t need to let a bad experience today overshadow that fact,” she added.
The Lady Irish scored two of the first three points to start the match, but Herndon’s kill evened the score before Redman recorded eight straight service points and four straight aces.
It was 9-2 Baylor before Mullins called her first timeout, but nothing seemed to change as the Lady Red Raiders kept slowly pulling away.
Herndon, who had six kills and four blocks in the match, gave Baylor a 1-0 lead with a kill for the final point.
The second set was a bit more competitive.
A kill from Elli Kinney knotted the score at 7-7 for Baylor before the Lady Red Raiders took charge with an 8-3 run. A kill from Ryan’s Bella Cartwright drew the Lady Irish within one at 16-15, but Margio had four kills in the final stretch as the winners scored nine of the final 11 points.
Baylor never trailed in the third set after scoring five of the first six points for the early 5-1 lead.
Back-to-back aces from Lucy Green allowed Ryan to knot the score at 16-16. A kill from Redman gave Baylor an 18-16 lead and the slender junior had two more kills as the lead stretched to 22-18.
A kill from Herndon made it 23-19 before Ryan had two shots into the net to end the match.
Redman had her usual outstanding match with a dozen kills to go along with 14 assists, six digs, five aces and three blocks.
Margio had an outstanding performance as well with a dozen kills and four blocks. The 6-2 junior really stepped up when her services were needed most and was definitely a difference maker in Saturday’s win.
“We all knew we had to play hard to win, but this was for sure one of my best matches. I knew that my teammates always had my back and there’s still plenty of room to improve, but this was a big win for us,” she said.
Herndon finished with six kills and four blocks while Libby May had 13 assists.
Baylor returns to the state tournament as the defending state runner-up after losing to Briarcrest in the finals a year ago.
Because Baylor finished second in its region behind Knoxville Catholic and because Briarcrest was first again on its side, Baylor will face this same group of Lady Saints in their first match on Tuesday afternoon (1:30 p.m. Eastern) at Siegel High School.
BAYLOR STATS:
Emma Gray – 1 ace, 2 assists, 8 digs
Tess Margio – 12 kills, 4 blocks
Libby May – 13 assists, 4 digs
Elli Kinney – 2 kills, 8 digs
Nadia Sixto – 2 kills, 3 blocks
Julia Hartman – 2 digs
Holland Moss – 2 kills, 2 blocks
Elaine Redman – 12 kills, 5 aces, 3 blocks, 14 assists, 6 digs
Sierra Herndon – 6 kills, 4 blocks.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)