The Cleveland Lady Raiders defeated the Bradley Central Bearettes in straight sets to win the District 5-3A volleyball championship Tuesday night inside “The Jim,” at Bradley Central.
photo by Richard Roberts
CLEVELAND, Tenn. - No surprise, the Cleveland Lady Raiders are the District 5-3A champions.
Cleveland defeated Bradley Central in straight sets at the home of the Bearettes Tuesday night to claim the title. Bradley central won in three sets over Walker Valley to reach the championship match.
The match was marred late in the second set when Ashlym Stuman, and integral part of the Bradley combination went down with an injury and would not return.
“I thought we handled our business.
It was just a little weird coming back out there after the injury coming back out there. It was what I expected. Nobody's mind was really on volleyball,” said Lady Raiders head coach Amy McGowan. “The thing about it is, Ashlyn is really good friends with most of our girl.They were worried about her.”
The Lady Raiders opened the championship match in a big way jumping to an 8-2 lead behind aces from Lauren Hurst and Kinslee McGowan. Addison Hurst slammed a pair of kills to the hardwood and Gunny Brock added an ace to make it 13-3. Cleveland build the lead to 18-7 and racked up the final seven points on the strength of Brock and Hurst sisters kills to close out the set.
Set two was more of the Lady Raiders as they opened a quick 12-5 lead. Addison and Lauren Hurst recorded kills as did McGowan and Lily O'Bryan as the Cleveland advantage increased to 15-6. Taylor Michaelis served up an ace in a 5-1 Cleveland run to lead 20-7 when Stuman went down with an injury that required the attention of EMS personnel. After some 45 minutes, Cleveland and Bradley gathered in a circle to pray for their injured friend before play resumed. The Lady Raiders finished out the set with a 25-12 win.
With the injury to Stuman lingering on the minds of both teams, Cleveland took a 6-3 lead with the help of back-to-back Brock aces. The Bearettes got kills from Laney Inman and Trinity Reagan to cut the Cleveland advantage to 10-9. Reagan kept it close with another kill as the Lady Raiders led 12-10. Addison Hurst fired back-to-back kills to the floor and McGowan added an ace to make it 15-12. The Hurst combination along with a pair of Brock aces put the Lady Raiders on top 21-12. Addison Hurst locked up the district championship with a final kill to make it a 25-17 final.
“I'm proud of the girls. Our major goal was go get through Walker tonight. They did it in three sets. They just wanted to prove something to themselves and they were able to do that.
“Cleveland is the No. 1 team in the state for a reason. I'm very proud of how we came back after Stuman's injury and put a little fight in the game. We were able to score some points and make some plays. We showed a little heart there so hopefully they'll take that into what we've got coming up next week,” said Bearettes head coach Christie McElhaney.
The Lady Raiders will take to the court Tuesday in search of a region title somewhere in Middle Tennessee.
“I don't know who who we're playing, but it doesn't matter we've got to take care of business. We play Tuesday. I don't know where, yet. It depends on who wins that district over there,” said McGowan.
All-Tournament team
Cleveland — Kinslee McGowan, Addison Hurst, Gunny Brock, Addison Brock, Gracelyn Jackson;Trinity Reagan, Laney Inman, Ashlyn Stuman, Kenslie Shelton — Bradley Central; Caileigh Collins, Bella Beard — Walker Valley; Ooltewah — Allie Tipton, Meghan Jordan; Rhea County — Malaya Goodwin. MVP: Lauren Hurst — Cleveland.