The 2016 high school volleyball season is only 10 days old, but the Baylor Lady Red Raiders are already playing in mid-season form.
Fresh off a strong weekend where they beat perennial state power Brentwood twice en route to winning the prestigious Early Bird Tournament in Knoxville, the Lady Raiders continued that consistent strong play on Wednesday evening as they made short work of their match against Soddy Daisy.
Taking less than an hour, Baylor improved to 11-0 for the season with a 3-0 victory over the Lady Trojans, winning impressively by scores of 25-9, 25-7 and 25-10 as Baylor never trailed in the match.
The Lady Trojans are now 4-9 overall, but have played some really good teams to start the season. No question they’re better than they showed at Baylor, but they had an unusually high number of unforced errors that led to a lot of quick and unanswered Baylor points.
“I’m extremely happy with the way we’re performing right now. We had a great weekend and won a big tournament where we gained a lot of confidence, but we’re just trying to serve tough and get other teams out of their normal routine,” said Baylor coach Sarah Lail afterward.
“We just want to bring that same intensity we had this weekend, regardless of who the opposing team is, but I’m really happy with the way we played tonight. We had another great crowd and I’m glad we could reward them by playing well,” she added.
Soddy Daisy coach Libby Peigen, who tried her best to change the flow of the match by calling quick timeouts in all three sets, knows that better days are ahead for her team, but they’re taking their licks in the process.
“Baylor is one of the most phenomenal hitting teams I’ve ever seen and that was a little bit overwhelming for us at times, but we didn’t give up and I don’t think we were intimidated,” she began her post-match comments following a talk with her team.
“We did some things well at times, but we also didn’t do so well at times. I think we lost some steam as the match went on, but we had a lot of hitting errors today and that’s what I’m most displeased about.
“We’ve played some tough teams so far, but we’re just trying to be more consistent. Some days are more successful than others, but I’m okay and I feel like we’ll be better as the season goes on,” she added.
A pair of kills from Paris Buckner combined with four hitting errors by Soddy Daisy allowed Baylor to take a 6-0 lead in the first set.
Back-to-back blocks from Gabby Gray extended the lead to 12-5. A service error by Baylor got Soddy Daisy to within 16-8, but the Lady Red Raiders scored nine of the last 10 points to take the first set.
The second set was much of the same as Baylor’s front line just kept pounding the ball without much response from Soddy Daisy.
Lilly Turner reeled off 11 straight service points to stretch a 4-1 lead to 15-1 and it never got any closer.
Gray had eight kills and seven digs to lead Baylor while Ally Craig assisted with seven kills and six digs. Turner ended the day with four aces and 10 digs while Sumida had 30 assists among other things.
Cameren Swafford and Gracie Ratledge both had three kills to lead Soddy Daisy while Kyleigh Ward had five digs and Kirstie Williams five assists.
Soddy Daisy will be at home Thursday for a key district match with Ooltewah while Baylor will travel to Nashville on Friday for its next match at Pope John Paul II.
SODDY DAISY STATS:
Kyleigh Ward – 2 kills, 5 digs
Taylor Uren – 4 digs, 1 ace
Kirstie Williams – 5 assists, 1 dig
Hannah Rogers – 3 assists, 3 digs
Cameren Swafford – 3 kills, 1 dig
Courtney Daughtry – 1 dig
Gracie Ratledge – 3 kills, 1 dig.
BAYLOR STATS:
Sarah Sumida – 2 aces, 2 kills, 30 assists, 5 digs
Gabby Gray – 8 kills, 7 digs
Ally Craig – 7 kills, 6 digs
Lilly Turner – 4 aces, 1 assist, 10 digs
Jane Wilson – 3 kills, 2 blocks
Paris Buckner – 6 kills, 2 blocks
Lexie Laurendine – 2 kills, 1 block
Denver Rogers – 1 kill, 1 dig
Laura Kate May – 1 dig
Elizabeth Case – 2 digs
Zoe Ubamadu – 2 kills.
(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)