Signal Mountain's Sidney Lapinski had a huge hand in nailing down the third set in the Lady Eagles' 3-0 rematch win over Sullivan South on Thursday at the Class 2A state volleyball championships at Siegel High School in Murfreesboro. Lapinski reeled off 10 straight service points in that third set to propel Signal Mountain into the championship match against Knox Catholic on Friday at 1:30 p.m. CT at MTSU's Murphy Center.
photo by Dennis Norwood
MURFREESBORO – Never accuse the Signal Mountain volleyball team of ever doing anything the easy way.
The Lady Eagles, who entered the TSSAA state tournament here as a possible favorite to win the Class AA division, started off the tournament on the wrong foot Wednesday as they lost to defending champ Sullivan South in their first match.
They staved off elimination with a 3-0 win over Jackson South Side before facing the task of playing three matches on Thursday, all in the losers bracket.
The Lady Eagles came back with fire in their eyes as they won nine straight sets in wins over Dyersburg, Page and those same Lady Rebels in their final match of the day.
Scores in the win over Dyersburg were 25-20, 25-17 and 25-17 while the scores in the win over Page were 25-21, 25-19 and 25-19. Then in the last match against Sullivan South with a berth in Friday’s final against Knoxville Catholic on the line, the Eagles kept winning by scores of 25-21, 21-14 and 21-17.
“That was awesome,” said Signal Mountain coach Jennifer Redman, who was most displeased following Wednesday’s early meltdown.
“We made a change in our lineup that really helped and I thought we did a good job of stopping their best player. We put them on their heels by stopping her, but Olivia Powers played lights out with her best match ever.
“These girls really showed me what they’re made of and the seniors really stepped up. This is really a close group of young ladies and I really think they wanted to play well for each other, but we always like to do things the hard way,” Redman concluded with a laugh.
Aubrie Johnson was a key player for Signal Mountain as she finished with 16 kills while Maia Rackel followed with a dozen kills and 18 digs.
Sidney Lapinski had 21 assists, 11 digs and five aces and was the biggest spark in that second set against Sullivan South when she knocked down 10 straight service points as the Lady Eagles turned a 10-8 deficit into a 19-10 lead.
The Lady Rebels were both down and all but out at that point and never challenged for the lead again.
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN COMBINED STATS:
Nicole Terfloth -- 4 aces, 30 digs
Elaine Redman -- 40 digs, 12 kills, 6 aces
Aubrie Johnson -- 32 kills, 4 digs, 4 blocks
Kate Barry -- 39 digs, 6 kills, 3 aces, 43 assists, 1 block
Hallie Hunt -- 20 digs, 3 aces
Mackenzie Lewis -- 2 digs, 2 kills
Maia Rackel -- 2 aces, 37 kills, 45 digs, 5 blocks
Sidney Lapinski -- 24 digs, 52 assists, 7 aces
Olivia Powers -- 3 blocks, 9 digs, 17 kills
Cora Hansen -- 6 digs, 1 block, 5 kills.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)