Baylor Advances To State Volleyball With 3-1 Win

Lady Red Raiders Now 40-8 Following Match With St. Benedict

  • Saturday, October 18, 2014
  • John Hunt

The Baylor girls can finally make plans for a return trip to Murfreesboro for next week's state volleyball tournament, but that spot didn't come as easily as they might have hoped.

The Lady Red Raiders, facing the Lady Eagles of St. Benedict in the D-II quarterfinal round at Baylor Saturday afternoon, ended up winning the match by a 3-1 final, claiming their 40th victory of the season by scores of 25-17, 25-11, 21-25 and 25-22.

It appeared that Baylor might cruise to an easy win with dominance in the first two sets, but those girls from Cordova had other plans.

St. Benedict, which didn't lead a single time in either of the first two sets, never trailed in the third as they finally came up with some answers from Baylor's front-line attack.

The Lady Eagles scored the first four points and had an 8-3 lead before Baylor called its first timeout.  The Lady Red Raiders kept getting closer and closer, even getting within a point at 22-21 on a nice block from Jane Wilson,  but the Lady Eagles rebounded to score the next three points to force a fourth set.

This one may have been the best of the day.

The match was tied 11 times.  Baylor led briefly at 10-8 following a kill from Haven Bethune and an ace from Lilly Turner, but St. Benedict quickly went back up by one on back-to-back kills from Lauren Hunter and Bailey Cochran and a block from Hunter.

The Lady Eagles maintained the upper hand until sophomore standout Gabby Gray finished off the match with four straight kills, including a well-placed tip on the final point that allowed her teammates to celebrate.

The Lady Eagles finished their season at 24-15, but they had nothing to be ashamed of as they gave Baylor all it wanted and more.

"I'm very proud of how we fought back, especially after that second set, but Baylor was well prepared and they put the ball down more than we did," said St. Benedict coach Janet Daleke following the match.

"It was pretty even in the third and fourth sets, but we had to start believing in ourselves.  I liked how we never gave up," she added.

Baylor coach Sarah Lail, who will be taking her team back to Murfreesboro for the sixth straight year, could finally smile and take a deep breath once the final point had been scored.

"We really didn't know what to expect from St. Benedict, but we definitely got off to a great start," she said after the match.

"I was definitely pleased with how well we played in the second set and that could have been the beginning of the end for St. Benedict, but they have a fine team and we knew they would battle back.  We also knew it could be our last match, but we turned it on at the end.

"They had some adjustments and were returning balls that had been going down, but Gabby wanted the ball at the end and we did a good job of getting it to her.  She's an outstanding player, but she also has some pretty good players around her.  But we're super excited to be going back to the state and we're hoping that we can bring back a state title," Lail concluded.

Gray, that slender six-foot sophomore who can single-handedly control the outcome, had one of her better matches as she finished with 32 kills and 13 digs.  She also had three aces.  She too was smiling when the match ended.

"I thought that we played well and we came out on top," she began.

"This may have been one of my best matches, but I was confident all along that we could win.  We had the talent and the mental toughness to win this match, but I just tried to do my part.  We lost to St. Agnes last year at the state and we're hoping to do better this time," she added.

While Gray was the leader for Baylor, her teammates didn't do so bad themselves. 

Sarah Sumida had 29 assists and 14 digs while Bethune finished with 17 assists and 13 digs, in addition to seven kills and two blocks.  Wilson finished with eight kills while Turner was credited with 21 digs.

Cochran had 13 kills to lead St.  Benedict while Alex Fuelling had 15 digs and Madison Bond 32 assists.

Baylor will face the winner of Father Ryan and St. Agnes on Wednesday at Siegel Middle School in the D-II Class AA semifinals.

ST. BENEDICT STATS:

Madison Bond -- 32 assists

Bailey Cochran -- 13 kills

Alex Fuelling -- 1 ace, 15 digs

Lauren Hunter -- 7 kills

Nicole Harty -- 6 kills

Clare Morris -- 6 kills.

BAYLOR STATS:

Jane Wilson -- 8 kills, 1 block

Haven Bethune -- 1 ace, 7 kills, 2 blocks, 17 assists, 13 digs

Cassie Elrod -- 4 digs

Lilly Turner -- 1 ace, 1 assist, 21 digs

Sarah Sumida -- 1 ace, 29 assists, 14 digs

Gabby Gray -- 3 aces, 32 kills, 13 digs

Ashleigh Cook -- 3 kills, 2 digs

Lexy Hellerstedt -- 7 kills.

(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@Comcast.net)

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