The Cleveland Lady Raiders rush the court in celebration after defeating Collierville 3-0 to win the Class AAA state volleyball championship Thursday, at Siegel High School, in Murfreesboro.
photo by Richard Roberts
MURFREESBORO — The Lady Raiders had two chances to win the 3A state volleyball championship Thursday at Siegel High School. They only needed one.
Since the championships kicked off Tuesday, Cleveland was a perfect 9-0 in three games played headed into Thursday's championship match against Collierville. The Lady Dragons needed to win twice over undefeated Cleveland after the Lady Raiders sent the Lady Dragons to the loser's bracket Thursday.
The Lady Dragons proved they were there to play in the first battle of the championship match losing a tight 25-21 set.
But, they were no match for the white-hot Lady Raiders who pulled off a 25-14 win in set two and earned the championship trophy with a 25-20 title clinching win in the third set.
The victory brings home the first-ever state title to Cleveland High School in six state championship appearances.
“It's just awesome. I'm just so happy for these girls,” said a very happy Lady Raiders head coach Amy McGowan. “When you think about it and you work from Day 1 and you talk about it and you work. To see it finally come to fruition it's amazing.
Tournament MVP Addison Hurst powered an astounding 23 kills to the floor to lead the Lady Raiders. Sister Lauren Hurst had 15 kills in the championship victory.
“With Addison Hurst on you're team you are going to win at anything, you are just going to win,” said McGowan. “When you've got kids like that who have that mentality and that grit you're going to win. If we went out here to play, I don't care what, you're going to win, with her you're going to win.”
McGowan admitted afterward she was a trifle concerned during the morning practice before the championship match, but was very pleased the Lady worked out their problems before heading to Siegel.
“This morning we had a rough practice. I had to put them on the line to run because they were just off,” said the coach. “I don't know what was wrong with them. But, we dialed it back in. I'm glad they got that out of their way this morning.”
The Lady Raiders came to the title match with three goals; be the first to 10 points, be the first to 15 points and make the other team call the first time out. They achieved those goals in all three sets.
Kills by the dynamic Hurst duo and a pair of aces by Gunny Brock propelled the Lady Raiders to an 8-4 lead in set one. Collierville pushed back to tie the set at 13-13 before kills from Addison Hurst and Kinslee McGowan opened a 15-13 for Cleveland. The “Killer Hursts” broke a 16-16 tie with kills and were helped by a McGowan block and Taylor Michaelis ace opened a 20-16 lead for the Lady Raiders. The Lady Dragons closed the gap to 20-19 and knotted the score at 21-21 before Lauren Hurst broke the tie with a kill and Addison Hurst fired back-to-back-to-back shots to the floor to give Cleveland the set win.
“Our girls knew that (Collierville came to play). They knew that and they were not going to let down. We had a few rough patches in the first set, but we pulled it out,” McGowan said as the celebration continued. “They just don't let up. Even when we've lost sets they didn't give up. There is no giving up in them.”
The Lady Raiders controlled set two from the opening serve racing to an 8-1 lead. Addison Hurst opened the crevice to 17-8 lifting a soft, floating kill tht found an open spot in the Collierville defense. The Lady Dragons picked up the next two points, but Lilly O'Bryan answered with a kill followed by an Addison Brock block and two more kills by Addison Hurst to push the lead to 21-10. Cleveland's
24th point came on a Collierville side out and the final point of the set came on another Lauren Hurst kill.
With momentum squarely in the laps of the Lady Raiders the thoughts turned to a final set win and a state championship.
“They thought they had it. As long as they felt that way I did too,” said McGowan.
The Lady Dragons were not ready to go home, however, and led the Lady Raiders 6-4 before Cleveland took over to run the next six points on the strength of kill by Lauren and Addison Hurst and O'Bryan along wit an an Addison Hurst ace that put Cleveland out front at 10-6. Minutes later a blistering cross-court winner by Lauren Hurst made it 13-8. The Dragons caught fire again to put four straight points on the board closing the Cleveland lead to 13-12. From there Collierville trailed by two to three points before tightening the score to 19-17. The Hurst duo stepped up with back-to-back kills to make it 23-19 and Lauren Hurst sent an ace over the net to make it 24-20 after a side out. A final shot by Collierville fell out of bounds and the celebration was on as the Lady Raiders rushed the court as state champions.
McGowan said the Lady Raiders looked at the trip to Middle Tennessee as just another day at the office under the supervision of CEO McGowan.
“I think its amazing. It was a business trip. I took their phones, they didn't have phones half the time. We practiced every day,” she said.
The coach said she felt like her team understands what it means to make history as the first-ever volleyball team from Cleveland to bring home a state championship.
“I hope they do. We've been talking about it so I hope they do,” she said.
The Cleveland Lady Raiders are all smiles as they pose with the championship trophy after winning the state championship Thursday, in Murfreesboro.
photo by Richard Roberts