Signal Mountain's Addy Jones her kill attempt get past Bradley defenders.
photo by M.A. Locke
It was quite an impressive resume on display as far as prep volleyball season openers go at Ooltewah Monday night. Between Signal Mountain, Bradley Central and the host Lady Owls, there were a combined 32 state volleyball appearances between the three proud programs and while Signal Mountain may be the new money amongst such royalty, the Lady Eagles won the night.
Signal Mountain made easy work of the 12-time state participant Bearettes in the opener 2-0 (25-12, 25-10) and followed it up with a 3-0 (25-9, 25-22, 25-23) victory over Ooltewah, a program with 11 state tourney trips under its belt.
And while no one ever earned a state title berth in August, the Lady Eagles were quite polished and had the look of a team that may very well earn a third straight trip to Murfreesboro.
“There was a lot of tradition out there on the other side of the court tonight. It’s exciting to open the season and see some good things come out of the first day where you’re really keeping score. We were very aggressive tonight, and I’m excited with some of the skill parts we have. We don’t have as much depth this year, but we do have some talent. Overall for the first day, there are a lot of things to like,” said Signal Mountain coach Kim Rackel.
The Lady Eagles only used a rotation of eight players, but with the likes of Emily Redman, Carlee Lowry and Addy Jones leading the way there was exceptional quality if not quantity to their attack.
“I thought fatigue did catch up to some in the second match, but I also thought Ooltewah made us work harder. A lot of season left to play, but playing matches like this give us the opportunity to see the things we need to hone and work on,” Rackel added.
Signal Mountain 2, Bradley 0: The Lady Eagles used three big service runs in the first game and it seems like they never sent a free ball back across the net as they kept the Bearettes on their heels the entire match. After an early 3-3 tie, Signal Mountain set the tone with four Calee Lowry aces in a 6-0 run and never took their foot off the gas. After a couple of Redman kills made it 13-6, Bradley made a brief 5-0 run on the strength of strong serving from Elise Brew to make it 13-11 but the Lady Eagles closed on a 12-1 run as Redman and Becca Rogers served it out.
The second game was much of the same as Signal Mountain continued to be the aggressor, refusing to send anything easy back across the net and firing missile after missile from the service line. Bradley struggled with serve receive and only had nine kills in 42 attacks at the net for the match.
The aggressive serving by Signal Mountain was effective, but it also gave Bradley five of their 10 points in the second game via service errors. Signal Mountain again used two big runs to make this one easy, scoring six in a row to make it 12-4, and using another 6-0 run to take it to 22-7.
“We lost six seniors and two of our returners are out with injuries so the number of players with varsity experience is slim right now. The good news is they all got some experience tonight against a very well-rounded team in Signal,” said veteran Bradley coach Christy Mcelhaney.
One of those youngsters who has a chance beneath the bright lights is Kimora Fields who had three of the kills. Ashlyn Stunman and Brooklyn Stansberry led the defense with five and three digs, respectively and Trinity Reagan added a couple of kills.
Signal Mountain was led by Carlee Lowry’s seven kills and four aces, while Redman had five kills and a pair of aces. Dillia Lowry had two blocks while Jones added three kills and two blocks as the Lady Eagles won the net battle.
Signal Mountain 3, Ooltewah 0: It looked as if the Lady Eagles would make quick work of this one as well jumping out to a 6-0, 10-1 and 15-2 lead in the first game before Ooltewah called a timeout to regroup. And regroup they did, suddenly becoming the aggressors as the Lady Owls refused to be bullied by the talented Lady Eagles.
“We had some trouble getting started, but that’s something we had last year as well. I’m really pleased though with the way we fought back and was proud of the effort. I got to use a lot of combinations and we have some depth, so I think tonight was a good first step for us,” said Ooltewah’s Elaine Peigen.
Ooltewah was outscored just 10-7 the rest of the way which set the stage for two very competitive games in the final two. And it was a freshman who provided the Lady Owls with a spark as Allie Tipton got going in the second game, and really found herself in the finale.
Signal got out to an early 6-3 lead in game two and led 20-14 as Redman got hot and Carlee Lowry made several nice blocks. But down 22-15, Ooltewah came storming back as Meghan Jordan reeled off four straight service points to make it 23-22 before Redman got a kill and the Lady Owls were long on a spike to end it.
In the finale, the Lady Owls once again fell behind 14-6 before turning the switch. During a 10-5 run Allie Tipton had three kills and a block as Ooltewah pulled to within 19-16 and with Karlee Brunner serving knotted it 21-all. Redman again got back-to-back kills to make it 23-21 before Alyssa Cate and Lily Williams won the net in back-to-back points to tie it again at 23. Becca Rogers came up big for Signal, though, with the final two points on big hits.
“I felt like we tried to do what we wanted to do in the last game rather than what Ooltewah gave us, plus the seven service errors really made us have to work hard. We have some girls on the team, though, who are figuring out that they like to hit the ball,” added Rackel.
Addy Jones led the Lady Eagles with 11 kills and Carlee Lowry wasn’t far behind with her 10. Redman added eight and was just as effective setting. Tipton had five kills and three blocks while Bruner was solid on the back row and a force on the net as well for Ooltewah.
(Contact James Beach via email at 1134james@gmail.com or Twitter @beachnut1134)