CLEVELAND, Tenn. — After five service errors in their first seven tries, two-time TSSAA State Champion Cleveland got it together to cruise to an easy sweep of visiting McMinn County in District 5-AAA volleyball action Tuesday, in Raider Arena.
Trailing on just a trio of serves Coach Amy McGowan's fifth-ranked Lady Raiders rolled to 25-13, 25-9, 25-12 set victories to improved 21-9 on the season and 4-0 in league play.
Cleveland head out of town for a unique day Wednesday, playing at Maryville at 2 p.m.
in front of the student body before then going to Knoxville Catholic that evening for a trimatch, including Farragut.
On Thursday, the Lady Raiders will travel across town to face archrival Bradley Central and then host Maryville Friday afternoon in front of the CHS student body.
After finding itself down 8-7 in the opening set thanks to the serving miscues, plus an unforced error, Cleveland took control with a 14-3 run and closed out the opening set with the final four points.
McMinn County opened the second set with the first two points, and even though the hosts ran off a short 4-0 spurt, the girls from Athens fought back to trail just 7-6.
The Lady Raiders once again got hot, turning the one-point edge into a 16-point win with an 18-3 streak.
The teams traded the first two points of the third set, thanks again to the next-to-last of 15 Cleveland service errors on the night.
The Lady Raiders then turned it once again with a 20-6 run before caping the match with four of the final half dozen points.
Highly-recruited 6-foot-3 senior Lauren Hurst, the two-time Gatorade Tennessee Volleyball Player of the Year, finished with 17 kills, four blocks, a pair of aces and two assists to pace the victors.
All-state junior Gunny Brock helped out with five slams, while sophomore setter Ava Franklin dished out 25 assists.
Senior Audra Capps and junior Maddie McKinney put up four kills apiece, plus the latter "stuffed" a trio of Lady Cherokee shots.
McMinn's 6-foot-3 Brenna Davis downed seven spikes for the visitors.