LDY rAIDERS' HITTER Kinslee McGowan gets set to serve during a student body volleyball match against Maryville Friday, inside Raider Arena. cleveland won the match, 3-1.
photo by Richard Roberts
CLEVELAND, Tenn. - After putting the finishing touches on the district volleyball championship Thursday, the Cleveland Lady Raiders ended the regular season with a hard-fought win over Maryville with a packed house student body match against Maryville Friday afternoon.
Cleveland earned the District 5-3A crown in straight sets over the Lady Owls a day before the Lady Rebels of Maryville pushed them for four sets.
Cleveland won the opening set 25-21 before falling to the Rebels 22-25 in the second set. The Lady Raiders rallied late to earn a 25-23 win in set three and closed out the day with a 25-19 win in the closer.
“I thought it was great on both sides. Maryville is a very, very good team. When they are on they are really hard to fight, they've got some really good people,” said Lady Raiders head coach Amy McGowan.
The next for the McGowan coached team will be the district tournament which begins Monday at Bradley Central. The Lady Raiders earned an opening round bye and will take the court Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. The championship game will take place at 7.
Cleveland senior hitter Addison Hurst was honored before Friday's match in a ceremony to celebrate her 1,700th kill, a school record.
The No. 2-ranked Lady Raiders fell behind early in set one as the No. 12 Lady Rebels opened a 6-2 lead and later held an 11-6 advantage. Maryville stretched it to 14-4 before a Hurst kill closed the gap to 16-11. The Rebels maintained a four point advantage for four volleys before the Cleveland offense heated up with three straight points from Lauren Hurst and Gunny Brock to make it an 18-16 game. Minutes later, Lauren Hurst came through once again to close the gap to 19-18. Addison Hurst's kill and an ace from Kinslee McGowan tied the set at 20-20. Back-to-back kills from Addison Hurst and another Mgowan aceput Cleveland out front for the first time at 24-20. The Lady Rebels picked up a final point before a ball out of bounds gave the win to Cleveland.
The Lady Raiders played from behind in set to as Maryville jumped to a 10-5 lead and built the advantage to 16-10. Cleveland fought back to cut the lead to 19-18 late, but could not overtake the Lady Rebels in the three-point loss.
Cleveland took control in the third set racing to a 9-1 lead on the strength of three Lauren Hurst aces and kils by Addison Hurst and Brock. Maryville battled back to make it a 10-7 game and later tied it up at 18-18. A pair of Addison Hurst kills put Cleveland back out front 20-18, but the Lady Rebels again knotted the score at 20-all before pushing to a 22-20 lead. Lauren Hurst took charge in the final minutes crushing four straight kills to the floor to give the Lady Raiders the 25-23 win.
“I thought we fought back all day. When we were down a couple of points we just kept grinding. I thought we did really well,” said McGowan.
The final set of the afternoon was a repeat of the first three battles as the Lady Raiders and Lady Rebels fought to a 6-6 tie and traded points down the line before Maryville edged out to a 15-13 lead. Lily O'Bryan tied the score at 15-15 with a kill before a Lauren Hurst ace and a Lauren Hurst blast gave the Lady Raiders an 18-16 lead. Cleveland heated up for four straight points with a pair of Maryville miscues and two Lauren Hurst kills to open a 23-18 advantage. Hurst closed out the day with two final kills for the 25-19 win.
“I think that was good for us, not that I like to be down, but I think that was good for us going into the postseason,” McGowan said.