The current volleyball season for the Chattanooga Christian Lady Chargers has been challenging at best and the results haven’t been what they wanted with more losses than wins.
But these young ladies have continued to work hard and that hard work paid off in a big way Tuesday night as they swept Baylor in a region match that really wasn’t close.
The Lady Chargers came out ready to play. It seemed like every ball they hit found its desired target and things just seemed to go the right way as CCS won by scores of 25-12, 25-12 and 25-14.
“It seems that all season long, we’ve had hiccups along the way, but our theme for today was to play not for self. I thought we played fearlessly and consistently as this was hands down our best match of the season,” said CCS coach Brittney Berube afterward.
“We just decided to have some fun. We always want to beat Baylor, but we just played our game today. They finally got over themselves and this win really helps out a lot. We don’t have a winning record, but we do have a winning team and I’m really proud of what they accomplished today,” the coach added.
Baylor coach Sarah Lail has never made excuses when things didn’t go her way and she wasn’t about to in this match.
“They played great and all the credit goes to CCS,” Lail began.
“We had a lot of unforced errors and you can’t expect to win a big region match when that’s the case. We knew it would be a challenge on the way over here, but we just have to keep working and move forward,” the veteran coach added after her team’s record dropped to 15-10 overall and 4-2 in region play.
Freshman Jenna Calhoun may have been the biggest spark for the Lady Chargers as she finished the match with eight digs, six aces and 25 assists in addition to one kill.
She had six straight service points in the first set that included back-to-back aces and she started off the second set with two more aces and eight straight service points. And then in the third set, she recorded eight more service points as the Lady Chargers had control most of the match.
Baylor led for the first time all match at 1-0 in the third set while back-to-back kills from Nadia Sixto put the Lady Red Raiders ahead again at 3-1.
A kill by Isabelle Porter knotted the score at 4-4 for CCS, but it didn’t stay close long as the Lady Chargers scored 13 of the next 16 points and were well on their way to their biggest win of the season.
A kill from Avery Ray was the winning point of the match for the Lady Chargers.
While Chattanooga Christian’s serving was outstanding, their play at the net was even more impressive as they had 19 blocks in the match. Ray had five while Cadie Weldon and Ella Van Meter both had four. Amelia Bustamante and Porter both had three each.
Porter and Ray both led the way with seven and six kills, respectively, while Hannah Blevins had 16 digs and Aubrey Holloway 14.
Sixto had eight kills for Baylor while Sydney Sharpe had eight assists. Franny Brooksbank was credited with 16 digs.
Baylor returns to action on Monday with a home match against Signal Mountain and another home match on Tuesday against Cleveland.
CCS will be at home again on Thursday to face Knoxville Catholic.
BAYLOR STATS:
Franny Brooksbank – 16 digs
Lily Stewart – 6 digs
Lucy Good – 1 kill
Bailey Shahan – 1 kill
Daphne Chi – 2 kills
Libby May – 1 ace, 1 kill, 5 assists, 4 digs
Penelope Kwun – 5 digs
Ella McCallie – 3 digs
Sydney Sharpe – 2 kills, 8 assists, 2 digs
Nadia Sixto – 8 kills, 2 digs
Alia Sherrow – 1 kill, 1 dig
Kaylee Snyder – 5 digs.
CHATTANOOGA CHRISTIAN STATS:
Hannah Blevins – 16 digs
Amelia Bustamante – 8 digs, 5 kills, 3 blocks, 1 ace
Jenna Calhoun – 1 kill, 8 digs, 6 aces, 25 assists
Aubrey Holloway – 14 digs, 1 ace
Isabelle Porter – 1 dig, 7 kills, 3 blocks
Avery Ray – 2 digs, 6 kills, 5 blocks
Clara Sims – 10 digs, 1 ace, 1 assist
Ella Van Meter – 5 digs, 2 kills, 4 blocks, 1 ace, 1 assist
Cadie Weldon – 2 kills, 4 blocks.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)