Cleveland Rolls Into 5-3A Volleyball Tourney As Favorite

Ooltewah, Walker Valley Could Pose Strong Challenges

  • Friday, September 30, 2016
  • Larry Fleming

CLEVELAND, Tenn. – Despite posting a one-loss District 5-3A regular season record, Cleveland volleyball coach Trish Powers acknowledges that her Lady Blue Raiders need serious work on several aspects of their game before starting the postseason tournament as the No. 1 seed.

“Our senior class went above and beyond what the coaches expected and our growth as a team has been good,” Flowers said at Friday morning’s coaches’ meeting. “But we need to work on ball placement, our self-discipline that has to be for all 25 points of a set, not just in short spurts. And we have to have better passing.”

Then, in a statement her players are surely going to hear this weekend during the Middle Tennessee Classic in Murfreesboro and in a couple practice sessions, Flowers laid out what the Lady Raiders must do to uphold their pre-tournament role as favorite.

“They’ve got to put it all together,” Flowers said. “They’ve had all season to do it. Now it’s time to shine.”

Cleveland (28-9, 11-1), as the top-seeded team, has a first-round bye on Monday and will take on the East Hamilton-Bradley Central winner on Tuesday at 5 p.m. at Walker Valley High School.

The tournament begins on Monday with three matches on the opening-day schedule.

The No. 4-seeded Lady Hurricanes (17-21, 5-7) take on No. 5 Soddy-Daisy (18-26, 5-7) at 4:30 p.m.; No. 3 Walker Valley (14-10, 8-4) plays No. 6 Bradley Central (7-24, 1-11) at 6 p.m. and No. 2 Ooltewah (25-12, 5-7), the four-time defending district tournament champion, plays No. 7 McMinn County (8-12, 1-11) at 7: 30 p.m.

There are four other Chattanooga tournaments starting Monday as well.

Grace Baptist is the top seed in District 5-A and Boyd-Buchanan is No. 2. That tournament will be played at Boyd-Buchanan.

In District 6-A, Sale Creek is the favorite with host Lookout Valley the two-seed.

Red Bank is top-seeded and Hixson No. 2 in District 6-2A at Hixson.

Potent Signal Mountain, coming off a 3-0 sweep of Ooltewah on Thursday, earned the No. 1 seed in District 7-2A while Notre Dame is No. 2. The tournament will be played at Signal Mountain, a distinct advantage for coach Jennifer Redman’s Lady Eagles.

“We really know we’ve proven ourselves on several occasions that if we’re not careful we can let it slip right through our hands,” said Flowers, referring to a handful of close calls this season. “The key word for us over the next few days is focus. We have to focus on the game that particular day.”

Cleveland, which ended Ooltewah’s remarkable string of three straight unbeaten regular seasons earlier this year, is led by hitter/setter Emma Flowers, the coach’s daughter, and a host of role players that have shown steady progress since early September.

The Lady Owls played solid volleyball in Thursday’s loss to Signal Mountain, but didn’t have a defensive answer to the Lady Eagles’ powerful front line of Aubrie Johnson, Maia Rackel and Olivia Powers.

By the way, that’s a star-studded trio that would have made the Lady Eagles a threat in District 5-3A this season.

Ooltewah coach Elaine Peigen came away from the Thursday loss still feeling good about how the Lady Owls are set up for the tournament.

“I feel good,” she said. “There are a few things we have to work on, but we’re going to play all weekend at Stewarts Creek (in the Middle Tennessee Classic) and we may come in on Sunday to practice.

“This is in the girls’ ballpark now. They have to come in and play ball. We’ll be ready.”

Ooltewah swept McMinn County in both district matchups this season.

Thursday’s loss to East Hamilton wasn’t enough to drop Walker Valley out of the No. 3 spot, but the Lady Mustangs will have to be on their toes against coach Brian Wood’s Lady Hurricanes who gained a measure of momentum from the hard-fought, five-set win against coach Judy Pruett’s squad in the regular-season finale.

“That was the best match we’ve played all season,” Wood said after Friday’s meeting. “Madison (Hayes) had a great night and it was a fun match to play. Having momentum going into the district tournament is crucial.”

East Hamilton (17-21-5-7) beat Walker Valley by scores of 25-18, 16-25, 25-27, 25-22 and 11-15.

“I saw fight from the players in that match and we had five of the six players on the floor at once trying to keep a ball up. Sheer determination is going to be the key for us.”

District 5-3A Volleyball Tournament Schedule

At Walker Valley

Monday

(Seeds in parenthesis)

(4) East Hamilton vs. (5) Soddy-Daisy, 4:30 p.m.

(3) Walker Valley vs. (6) Bradley Central, 6 p.m.

(7) McMinn County vs. (2) Ooltewah, 7:30 p.m.

Tuesday

(1) Cleveland vs. East Hamilton-Soddy-Daisy winner, 5 p.m.

Walker Valley-Bradley Central winner vs. McMinn County-Ooltewah winner, 6:30 p.m.

Wednesday

Championship game, 6 p.m.

(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)

 

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