GPS Uses Big Rally To Repel Soddy-Daisy, 3-2

Bruisers Come Back From 0-2 In Volleyball Action

Monday, August 22, 2016
Larry Fleming

Soddy-Daisy stunned Girls Preparatory School by winning the first two sets of their high school volleyball match Monday at GPS.

Then, the Lady Trojans lost their intensity about the same time the Bruisers started turning up the heat.

As a result, GPS rallied to win three straight games and pulled out a hard-fought 3-2 victory that improved its record to 7-2 on the season. Soddy-Daisy dropped to 4-7.

Game scores were 25-18, 26-24, 20-25, 21-25, 13-15.

“We were thinking, ‘What is going on. We’re better than this,’ ” said the Bruisers’ Reagan Long, who had nine kills, five aces, one dig and one block in the match.

The match was tight throughout and after two spurts gave GPS – which was playing without standout Lilly Berger, who suffered a knee injury this past weekend -- five- and seven-point leads, the fifth set nip and tuck to the end.

With Soddy-Daisy’s unforced errors mounting, the Bruisers broke from a 4-4 tie with five straight points. Courtlyn Martino, the libero, scored GPS’ only point in that streak. The Lady Trojans had four unforced errors.

“At first we took them for granted because we felt like we would beat them right off,” Long said. “We weren’t aggressive in the first two games, but started to communicate, gave it everything we had and played a lot better.”

A GPS error stopped the scoring streak, but the Bruisers came right back with four consecutive points, two by Karly Benefield on service points, a push by Reagan Long and Soddy-Daisy’s Gracie Ratledge’s kill went astray.

The Lady Trojans regrouped and sliced their deficit to 13-11 when Sierrah Lemons scored on a slap, Cameren Swafford duplicated that point and added a tap and GPS’s Long sent a hard shot beyond the backline.

On the next point, a Lady Trojan error gave GPS its 14^th point, setting up the Bruisers to serve for the match.

However, a player served out of turn and that gave Soddy-Daisy the point and GPS led 14-12. On the ensuing play, Preslee Brooksbank, who had eight kills, three aces and four digs, slammed a shot that found the net, allowing the Lady Trojans to pull to within 14-13.

Hannah Kincer, credited with eight kills and three blocks, clinched the victory with a well-placed tip that sent the Bruisers into a celebration on the court.

“We knew we could come back if we kept our confidence up and kept working as a team,” Kincer said. “But the serve we messed up was really nerve-wracking. You heart was pounding, it’s racing but we just relied on each other. We stayed in it even with the jittery nerves when that happened.”

Said GPS coach Alfie Dodd on the close win, “We lost a really strong player this past weekend (Berger), one of the best players in the state, in my opinion. She’s a huge leader. We hope to get the (exam) results back by Tuesday and we’ll see.

“We’re super young. Our only senior is our libero (Martino). We have two juniors and the rest are sophomores and freshmen. We were playing Soddy-Daisy, which is super scrappy and they know how to play defense. Not too many balls are going to hit the floor on them, so it was tough.”

The Lady Trojans were solid in the first two games and had the Bruisers on their heels.

Berger could only watch from the sidelines, her crutches lying on the floor.

In the opening game, GPS used strong serving by Emma Moore, who had two kills, 18 assists, four aces and six digs to turn a 13-9 deficit into a 14-13 lead. Moore had three service points and an ace in the spree.

Soddy-Daisy’s lead was still one at 19-18, but coach Libby Peigen’s club outscored GPS 6-0 down the stretch for the win – four different Lady Trojans scored: Swafford, Ratledge, Kyleigh Ward and Courtney Daughtry – and GPS helped out with two errors.

Soddy-Daisy led 13-7 in Game 2, but GPS battled back and trailed 20-18 on a Long kill. The Lady Trojans’ got a kill from Lemons and nursed a 23-20 lead. GPS scored four straight points and went up 24-23 – Kincer blocked Ratledge, Soddy-Daisy committed back-to-back errors and GPS got a service point for the 24^th point.

Ratledge scored on a kill, Swafford had a service point and Kincer’s kill-shot sailed past the backline and Soddy-Daisy was up 2-0.

“I think our girls are going to see a lot of fifth games this year, against teams like East Hamilton, Ooltewah and Walker Valley,” Peigen said. “They have to learn how to not gas out after three and persevere through it all. I think this group will get there.”

GPS had a 20-18 lead in the third game and was still up 22-20 after a Taylor Uren kill. The Bruisers’ Kincer took care of the rest with a kill and two service points to trim Soddy-Daisy’s lead to 2-1.

In Game 4, the Bruisers trailed 12-8, but put up seven of the next eight points – each one coming off unforced Soddy-Daisy errors – and took a 15-12 advantage. The Lady Trojans’ only point came on a Ratledge kill.

Down 21-18, Ratledge and Lemons had kills for the Lady Trojans, GPS’ Brooksbank slam sailed long and the game was suddenly tied 21-all. Ratledge finished with 13 kills, one more than Hannah Rogers and three more than Swafford.

Kincer then scored on a slap, the Bruisers scored on Lady Trojans errors and Brooksbank service point decided the game and tied the match at 2-2.

“I look at this more as a learning opportunity,” the Lady Trojans’ Swafford said. “This match taught us that nothing is guaranteed. We lost our intensity and started making a lot of errors. We have to keep the intensity up through all five games.

“The biggest thing, I think, is that we stopped talking. We weren’t communicating.”

Statistics

Soddy-Daisy

Mikayla Phillips – 6 digs, 1 ace

Kyleigh Ward – 5 kills, 1 block, 7 digs

Taylor Uren – 1 assist, 8 digs, 1 ace

Sierrah Lemons – 5 kills, 4 blocks

Kirstie Williams – 1 kill, 19 assists, 1 block, 1 dig

Hannah Rogers – 12 assists, 10 digs, 1 ace.

Cameren Swafford – 10 kills, 2 blocks, 5 digs, 2 aces

Kylie Brincks – 1 assist, 7 digs

Madison Davis – 1 kill