BRENTWOOD, Tenn. — Jumping into the fire of the new volleyball season, Cleveland traveled to Middle Tennessee for a tri-match Monday, hosted by the 16-time state champion and current defending TSSAA runner-up Brentwood.
After shutting out Lebanon in the 2-0 opener, the Lady Raiders came out on the opposite end of the same score to the Lady Bruins.
Drilling 19 kill shots, Cleveland powered past Lebanon 25-18, 25-19 in the season opener.
Gunny Brock, a 6-foot-2 all-stater, opened her senior campaign with a dozen downed slams, at a 52.2% rate, plus returned nine serves, plus put all nine of her serves between the lines, handed out a trio of assists and blocked a shot.
Madelyn Mckinney, a 6-foot senior, drilled four scoring spikes, plus got in 11-of-12 serves (91.2%), with a pair of aces, returned a trio of serves and stuffed a Devilette shot.
Junior setter Ava Franklin dished out seven assists, dropped in three kills and put 3-of-4 serves in play.
Sophomores played well for the victors, with Payton Gianassio getting all eight of her serves between the lines, with an ace and an assist.
Ariyah Huffman returned eight serves, while digging out four shots, plus put 6-of-7 serves in play, while Gracie Cloutier blocked a pair of shots and Robin McKissic had four digs.
In the nightcap, Cleveland was knocked on the ropes in a 25-10 loss, but made things much tougher for Brentwood before falling 25-21 in the second game.
Brock, Mckinney and Franklin once again had all of the Lady Raider kills with seven, five and two, respectively.
Franklin handed out 11 "dimes," while she and Huffman had the only two Cleveland blocks.
As a team, the Lady Raiders got 87.5% of their serves in play, with Mckinney leading the way with 10-of-11, while Huffman was 7-for-8 and Franklin true on all five of hers.
Brock and McKissic returned a dozen serves apiece, while Huffman put nine in play and junior Anna Bates five as the team had just three service return errors.
Bates and Huffman both dug out five shots, while Brock had four and Franklin three digs.