Hamilton County volleyball teams playing in Murfreesboro at the state volleyball tournament played six matches on Wednesday, winning three and losing three.
Perhaps the biggest win was Notre Dame’s 3-0 sweep over perennial powerhouse Goodpasture. Notre Dame, improving to 32-4, will face that same Goodpasture team in the Division II-A championship match, which will be held at Middle Tennessee Christian School, starting at noon Chattanooga time.
The Baylor Lady Red Raiders also earned a spot in the D-II-AA championship match against Briarcrest. Baylor lost a tough three-set match to the Lady Saints in their first match of the day, but battled back with a lot of heart to beat Knoxville Catholic in the losers bracket final to earn a second chance against Briarcrest.
Set scores in the Briarcrest match were 23-25, 24-26 and 13-25 while the scores against Catholic were 25-22, 25-20 and 25-19.
Baylor had less than an hour break between matches, but it didn't take long for coach Sarah Lail and some of her older girls to get them back on track.
"That first match against Briarcrest could have gone either way. I really didn't have to say much between matches and Elaine Redman got the team together and let them know that the season wasn't over and that we still had an important match to play," Lail expressed later.
"Even though we were down, we were really determined to come back. Knox Catholic ended our season in the same spot last year, so we wanted to return the favor. We couldn't afford to dwell on that first match, so we just had to rebuild our confidence and to think positive.
"We just needed to play Baylor volleyball and that's what we did. I really like where we are right now," Lail said.
While Notre Dame and Baylor will be playing for their respective championships, Sale Creek and East Hamilton will be battling in the losers bracket.
Sale Creek lost a tough 3-1 match against Loretto in Wednesday’s first match, the Lady Panthers falling by scores of 25-16, 19-25, 19-25 and 14-25. Sale Creek now faces Meigs County at Stewarts Creek in the first match on Thursday after Meigs avoided elimination with a 3-0 victory over Union City.
East Hamilton stayed alive in the AA division with a 3-0 victory over Signal Mountain, winning by scores of 25-13, 25-23 and 25-19. The Lady Hurricanes now face Murfreesboro Central at Blackman in a match that starts at 1 p.m. Chattanooga time.
Sale Creek coach Erin Briner was hoping to have better results against Loretto, but the Lady Mustangs were able to make some adjustments after Sale Creek won the first set by a 25-16 final to win the next three by scores of 25-19, 25-19 and 25-14.
“We played really well in that first set, but against a seasoned team like Loretto, you have to play well all three sets,” Briner explained following the match.
“I’m just hoping we get another shot at them. We didn’t make a ton of errors today, but our passing went away and that became a big issue as we had to play defense too much. They had one girl who totally dominated us, but I feel like we gave our best effort. We just have to learn how to finish an entire match,” Briner added.
McKenna Hayes has been the leader for East Hamilton all fall, so it was no surprise that she had an outstanding match on Wednesday as she finished with 13 kills, nine digs, four blocks and a pair of aces. Hana Suzuki had 13 assists and eight digs while Laila Ankar had 10 digs and Emma Ankar eight.
“We really worked hard tonight in playing every point and every set together,” said East Hamilton coach Antonela Tomic Suzuki via a text message.
“That’s definitely how we won the match as it was a great team effort all the way around.”
Signal Mountain coach Kim Rackel was hoping for better results, but she was just glad that her team could be part of such awesome competition.
“We’re a little disappointed to be sure, but when you get to this point, you either go home as a champion or with a broken heart. East Hamilton is a very athletic team and they earned it today, but I’m really proud of what we accomplished and how far we got.
“It’s been several years since Signal Mountain has qualified for this tournament, so it’s good to get a taste of what it’s like. We totally left our heart out there as there was no lack of want to. We just didn’t execute the way we needed to and that cost us the match,” Rackel concluded.
SALE CREEK STATS:
Ansley White – 19 assists, 2 digs, 1 ace
Desiree Higgins – 2 digs, 17 assists, 3 aces
Allison Smith – 21 digs, 1 assist, 1 ace
Ruthie Parks – 11 digs
Ava Higgins – 24 kills
Lillie Morgan – 13 digs, 9 kills
Sarah Gibson – 10 kills
Gabi Lacheney – 1 kill, 1 ace
Shelby Defore – 2 blocks
Katie McNabb – 1 kill, 1 block
Reese Hendrix – 1 dig.
EAST HAMILTON STATS:
McKenna Hayes – 13 kills, 4 blocks, 9 digs, 2 aces
Amya Sutton – 4 kills, 5 digs, 4 aces
Tristin Sutton – 4 kills, 1 block, 8 assists, 4 aces
Angelia Seder – 2 digs
Hana Suzuki – 13 assists, 8 digs, 1 ace
Julia Culpepper – 2 kills
Megan Lewis – 2 kills, 2 digs
Emma Ankar – 8 digs
Morgan Bone – 1 kill, 1 dig
Laila Ankar – 10 digs.
BAYLOR STATS (COMBINED TWO MATCHES):
Emma Gray -- 3 assists, 32 digs, 2 aces
Tess Margio -- 20 kills, 1 block, 3 digs
Libby May -- 30 assists, 4 digs, 2 aces
Elli Kinney -- 3 kills, 19 digs
Nadia Sixto -- 7 kills, 1 block, 2 digs
Holland Moss -- 6 kills, 2 blocks
Elaine Redman -- 21 kills, 27 assists, 3 blocks, 24 digs, 1 ace
Sierra Herndon -- 14 kills, 2 blocks, 5 digs
Morgan Sharp -- 12 digs, 1 ace.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)