MURFREESBORO – The Sale Creek volleyball team finished as state runner-up last fall and vowed to themselves that they would be willing to do what was necessary to make it back to the big show with the intention of taking care of unfinished business.
The Lady Panthers breezed to another district title and they won their region tournament for the fifth straight year. After sweeping East Robertson in the sectional match on Thursday, Sale Creek appeared poised and ready for another state title shot.
This year’s state tournament didn’t start out like the Lady Panthers had planned. If they win their first-ever state title, they’ll have to come back through the loser’s bracket after getting hammered by the Summertown Lady Eagles in their opening match at Blackman High School Tuesday afternoon.
The Lady Panthers didn’t lead a single time as Summertown prevailed by scores of 25-15, 25-13 and 25-14.
Erin Hill Briner is now the Sale Creek coach after brilliant careers at Sale Creek and Lee University. She knows all about what it takes to win at the state’s highest level, but what she saw early Tuesday afternoon left a lot to be desired.
“The good news is that we still have another match, but we just didn’t play our game today,” she said while standing in the sunshine outside the Blackman gym.
“I know that only two of these girls have played in this tournament and I guess you might blame the jitters of just being nervous as being a reason we lost, but we just didn’t compete today. We just didn’t see the same effort we’ve seen in recent matches,” Briner nodded.
Debbie Hill, the long-time head coach who is assisting her daughter, had said before the match started that she thought Summertown might just have the best team in their classisfication.
She may be right.
“We can still bounce back, but we just didn’t give a state-tournament type effort today,” she said.
“Summertown is a really good team and they didn’t make many mistakes, but we helped them look good,” she added.
Lillie Morgan and Gabi Lacheney both had five kills to lead Sale Creek’s effort up front. Sarah Gibson had five blocks while Allison Smith and Ruthie Parks both had nine digs. Kaci Billingsley was credited with a dozen assists.
SALE CREEK STATS VS. SUMMERTOWN:
Sarah Gibson – 4 kills, 1 ace, 5 blocks
Katie McNabb – 2 kills
Lillie Morgan – 5 kills, 8 digs
Allison Smith – 9 digs
Ruthie Parks – 9 digs
Shelby Defore – 3 blocks, 1 dig
Kaci Billingsley – 12 assists, 1 dig
Sophia Dozier – 3 assists, 1 dig
Kayla Phillips – 1 block, 2 digs
Gabi Lacheney – 5 kills, 2 digs
Ava Higgins – 1 block, 1 dig.