CLEVELAND, Tenn. — Wrapping up another successful volleyball regular season, Bradley Central blanked visiting Rhea County during Senior Night activities Thursday evening, at Jim Smiddy Arena.
After dropping a 3-1 decision to the Lady Eagles earlier in the campaign, the Bearettes roared to 25-14, 25-22, 25-10 victories in the regular season finale.
Bradley will open the postseason Monday with a trip to Chattanooga for the District 6-AAA Tournament at Howard Tech.
As the second-seed the Bearettes (18-13, 4-2 District 6-AAA) will square off with No.
3 seed Ooltewah (12-19, 2-4) at 6 p.m., after top-seeded and 11th-ranked East Hamilton (25-8, 6-0) will face winless Howard (overall n/a, 0-6) in the opener.
The two victors will square off at 7:30 for the district crown and the rite to host the Region 3-AAA Tournament the following week.
Rhea County (14-19, 3-3) will journey to Raider Arena Tuesday for the District 5-AAA Tournament, where they will face Walker Valley (8-18, 2-4) at 6 p.m. in the 2-3 seed semifinal.
Top-seeded and fifth-ranked Cleveland (29-10, 6-0) will take on No. 4 seed McMinn County (3-15, 1-5) at 4:30 p.m. The district title match will follow at 7:30.
After splitting a pair of District 6-AAA matchups with East Hamilton and Ooltewah on the previous two nights, Bradley came out strong with 11 kills and seven aces in 11-point opening set victory Thursday against Rhea.
The host Bearettes kept up the pressure in much closer 3-point second set by downing 14 power slams, "dinks," "dunks" and tips, plus adding five more aces.
Capping its 14th shutout of the season, the Bearettes notched three more aces and 10 kills, plus a trio of blocks, in the 15-point final set win.
On the evening, Bradley had 35 kill shots, made 58 digs and downed 16 aces, with an 89% team service rate, plus "stuffed" four Lady Eagle shots.
In possibly her final home match, senior Laney Inman exploded for 13 kills, eight digs, seven aces, putting 94.7% of her 19 serves in play, and "stuffing" an Eagle shot.
Sophomore My'Ryah Greenwood helped out with eight spikes, while junior Addison Stuman blasted seven slams, eight digs, a trio of blocks and an ace.
Junior Libby Stewart handed out 19 assists, dug out nine shots and downed a pair of kills, while sophomore Lilly Winters dished off 15 helps, plus had a pair of aces.
Sophomore libero Wyatt Powell had 13 digs and put 93.3% of her 15 serves between the lines, including a couple of aces.
Classmate Tabitha Eaves garnered seven digs and four aces while putting all 10 of her serves in play for the hosts.