MURFREESBORO – All the Baylor volleyball team wanted was another shot at Briarcrest.
After all, the Lady Saints had beaten them in three straight sets on Wednesday at Middle Tennessee Christian School in the winner’s bracket of the Division II-AA state volleyball tournament.
The Lady Red Raiders earned that rematch with a stirring five-set win over Knoxville Catholic. Coach Sarah Lail had formulated a different game plan from the one used on Wednesday.
Thursday’s match was closer in a lot of ways, but the results were the same after Briarcrest won in straight sets by scores of 25-19, 25-22 and 25-14.
Thursday’s win was the fourth state title in five years as Knoxville Catholic broke that string of three straight wins last year.
Briarcrest finishes another outstanding season at 33-6 while Baylor ends another good one at 35-8.
Coach Carrie Yerty has been the Briarcrest coach for many years and has won more than her share of matches, but she’s been battling cancer this year and assistant coach April Jauregui was promoted to take her place.
“That’s a great team we just beat,” Jauregui responded at midcourt after the championship hardware had been distributed.
“We had a hard time putting the ball down as it was hard to score against them. We just tried hitting different spots and that seemed to work.
“I can’t begin to say how proud I am of these young ladies as we’ve been through some adversity this year. We’re all so worried about coach Yerti, but we’ve tried to make enjoyable as well.
“It’s been a tough journey, but also extremely rewarding,” the first-year head coach added.
Baylor beat Briarcrest for the state title back in 2017 and that was the last time to beat the Lady Saints. Both of these teams have an awful lot of talent, but the gals in green just seem to rise to the occasion when Baylor is on the other side.
Baylor coach Sarah Lail did everything in her power to change the results, but nothing seemed to work.
“Briarcrest has another great team and we just have to keep holding our heads high as we had another phenomenal season,” she said after catching her breath and doing her best to console her players.
“We played our hearts out. We had a different game plan from yesterday, but there were just too many things that didn’t go our way. You almost have to be perfect against a team like that.
“There are a lot of teams who would like to be in our position right now, but I couldn’t be more pleased with our effort today. Our defense was simply great and maybe the best we’ve played all year, but it just wasn’t enough," Lail added.
The first set was a battle like everyone expected. Baylor scored four straight points for an 11-7 lead, but just as quickly, Briarcrest evened things by scoring five of the next six points.
The last tie was at 16-16, but the Lady Saints turned up the intensity just a bit and won by scoring nine of the final 12 points.
The Lady Saints led from the start of the second set and the score was tied five times.
Briarcrest scored six straight points to turn a 15-15 tie into a 21-15 lead and they added another point before Baylor had their best run of the match.
With senior Elli Kinney knocking down six straight service points, the Lady Raiders had a surge of adrenalin when they knotted the score at 22 before the Lady Saints called a timeout.
A kill from Emma Haddix and a block from Kynedi Jennings gave Briarcrest a two-point lead and they ended the set on the next serve when a Baylor return sailed into the net.
All of a sudden, what could have been an even match had the Lady Saints up 2-0 as the momentum had definitely shifted to their side.
With Haddix getting two of her eight kills to start the third set, Briarcrest built a 6-2 lead and it never got any closer as they just kept pulling away.
Kendall Barnes was named the tournament MVP after she finished with 10 kills, one assist, two aces and eight digs.
Jennings and Haddix followed with nine and eight kills, respectively, while Ashley Pruitt had 31 assists and Bella Sherrod 15 digs.
Kinney had a dozen kills and seven digs in her final match for Baylor while Maggie Hansen had nine kills. Sydney Sharpe finished with 24 assists while sister Morgan Sharpe had the same number of digs.
BRIARCREST STATS:
Kendall Barnes – 10 kills, 1 assist, 2 aces, 8 digs
Ashley Pruitt – 3 kills, 31 assists, 7 digs, 1 block
Kynedi Jennings – 9 kills, 1 dig, 2 blocks
Emma Haddix – 8 kills, 1 assist, 2 aces, 6 digs
Olivia Bledsoe – 2 kills, 9 digs
Julia Loschinskey – 5 kills
Jordan Logan – 5 digs
Bella Sherrod – 4 assists, 15 digs.
BAYLOR STATS:
Addie Margio – 2 kills
Maggie Hansen – 9 kills, 2 digs
Sydney Sharpe – 2 kills, 24 assists, 4 digs
Elli Kinney – 12 kills, 1 assist, 1 ace, 7 digs
Alia Sherrow – 2 kills, 1 dig, 1 block
Kaylee Snyder – 1 ace, 9 digs
Conleigh Brock – 2 kills, 1 dig
Morgan Sharpe – 1 assist, 24 digs
Franny Brooksbank – 1 ace, 6 digs.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)