Signal Mountain coach Jennifer Redman was not a very happy young lady last week when Notre Dame came up and took a 3-1 volleyball win in the Lady Eagles' gym.
She knows she has an experienced team with more than her share of talent, but they just hadn't been playing like it to start the season.
The veteran coach was somewhat happier Wednesday night after her team took a non-district match at Red Bank, winning three straight sets in the Susan Ingram Thurman Gymnasium. Scores were 26-24, 25-17 and 25-15.
"It's a good win and always nice to come over here and get a victory," Redman said shortly after the match ended.
"This is a real confidence booster for these girls, but that's what we're capable of doing. We switched our rotation and we got a new girl eligible today that really helped, but it was just a great team effort.
"It's a big win for us, especially here at Red Bank. But that's how we're supposed to play," she added.
Three straight hitting errors allowed the Lady Eagles to build a 7-2 lead early in the first set, but four straight service points from Cassidy Payne late allowed the Lionettes to take a 23-21 before Redman called a timeout to regroup.
A kill from Marjorie Smith extended that lead to 24-21 before a kill from Hallie Hunt shifted the momentum back to Signal's side.
Sidney Lapinski then took over, recording four straight aces to secure the win and give those girls in red the confidence boost that they had so badly needed.
The second set was nip and tuck for the first 24 points as a kill from Dani Usher allowed Red Bank to knot the score at 12-all.
Back-to-back kills from Maia Rackel allowed the Lady Eagles to regain the upper hand while teammate Aubrie Johnson had five straight service points to extend a 18-15 lead to 23-15.
Rackel then sealed the deal with another kill a minute later as the Lady Eagles were up 2-0 and feeling pretty good.
Signal Mountain may have played their best volleyball of the evening in that final set as they forced the Lionettes into repeated hitting errors, but Rackel recorded nine straight service points at the end to send the Lady Eagles back up the mountain with smiles on their faces and a new outlook on life.
Red Bank coach Mandi Munn certainly isn't ready to push the panic button as her young team is still working to put all the pieces together. The Lionettes played better in this match and in recent ones and they played well enough to win at times, but Signal Mountain did a nice job of avoiding another loss.
"We're still growing and trying to get a feel for playing with each other, but it's all practice until the tournaments begin," Munn said afterward.
"We have to learn how to be tougher mentally as we have to eliminate costly breakdowns, but we hustled and played with a lot of heart. We're still learning with new people in new positions, but we'll get there by the time we need to be there," Munn added.
Rackel was the leader for the Lady Eagles with 15 digs, nine kills, two aces and a block while Johnson added nine kills for the winners.
Lapinski finished with 22 assists in addition to six aces, six digs and two kills while Aryn Sanders had 22 digs.
Smith was the leader for Red Bank with six kills and 11 digs. Usher had four blocks while Megan Paradis had six assists.
Both teams will be involved in the Choo Choo Tournament this weekend as matches will be played at Red Bank and Ooltewah on Friday and Saturday.
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN STATS:
Aryn Sanders -- 22 digs
Aubrie Johnson -- 9 kills, 1 block
Mackenzie Lewis -- 2 digs
Hallie Hunt -- 3 kills, 8 digs
Maia Rackel -- 2 aces, 15 digs, 9 kills, 1 block
Sidney Lapinski -- 2 kills, 6 digs, 22 assists, 6 aces
Olivia Powers -- 1 kill, 3 digs
Cora Hansen -- 1 block
Nicole Terfloth -- 1 ace, 3 digs.
RED BANK STATS:
Janie Smith -- 1 kill, 3 blocks, 1 ace
Megan Paradis -- 6 assists, 5 digs, 1 ace
Dani Usher -- 4 blocks
Jasmine Simpson -- 2 kills
Sam Wright -- 10 digs
Cassidy Payne -- 7 digs, 2 aces
Marjorie Smith -- 6 kills 2 blocks, 2 aces, 11 digs
Layla Babb -- 3 kills, 3 digs
Hannah Wood -- 2 aces, 5 digs, 3 assists.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)