Signal takes region title

Signal Mountain’s and Boyd-Buchanan’s volleyball teams have had mirror-like seasons. Coming into the Region 3-A tournament at Boyd-Buchanan, the teams had split during the regular season. Both were district champions. And both had a big-time hitter with a solid surrounding cast.

What the Lady Bucs didn’t have Tuesday was Sydni Abbajay.

Junior and returning all-state performer Callie Hildebrand as usual paced the Lady Eagles in kills on the night, but Abbajay’s effort in a reinforcement role was a key reason Signal Mountain was able to defeat Boyd-Buchanan 3-1 in the final. The game scores were 25-13, 25-27, 25-23, 29-27.

The Lady Eagles got to the final by defeating Grace Academy 25-21, 25-13, 25-18. The Lady Bucs also won 3-0 in their semifinal. Each game score against Sale Creek was 25-17.

Signal Mountain (44-17) will host Friendship Christian (30-23) in one of Thursday’s state sectionals. Boyd-Buchanan (37-20) will play at Jackson County, which beat Friendship 3-1 in the Region 4 final.

Hildebrand totaled 32 kills in the two matches. Abbajay supplied good support with 18 kills and four blocks. She also served four aces, matched Hildebrand’s 29 digs and was selected the tournament’s most valuable player.

“Sydni Abbajay on the right side played really well,” Signal Mountain coach Jennifer Redman said. “When all of our hitters are going, it’s hard for other teams to get any timing down.”

Redman also had praise for middle blockers Laura Powell and Carly Jonakin for their exertion at the net, particularly in the final. Their work didn’t always result in points, although Powell ended the night with 10 kills and three blocks and Jonakin totaled eight kills and six blocks, but they often made the Lady Bucs labor a little more for theirs.

“Signal Mountain played great defense,” Boyd-Buchanan coach Amber Nolen said. “We did not play great defense, which was one of our problems. We were tipping a lot and they were getting to it. When it gets heated, nobody wants to make a mistake. Points are hard to come by then, and we played too timidly.”

The championship match began with Signal Mountain scoring the first seven points. As the other game scores indicate, things changed drastically after that.

“They gave it everything,” Redman said as she gazed at some exhausted Lady Eagles stretched out on the gym floor after a quick celebration and team picture with the winning hardware. “Today is the team I finally knew they could be. We had a low-key practice this morning. Some of them went and had lunch together after that. When they came in here they looked at ease — moreso than normal.

“That first game was nice, but we knew that wasn’t how it was going to go the rest of the way.”

Said Nolen: “The idea of having a bad day is not true. It’s a mental thing. Mentally we had to make a decision to start playing better. There was nowhere to go but up after that first game. It couldn’t get any worse, but we had a lot of match in front of us. We had four more games.

“All you can do is control your side of the court — your attitude, your hustle. I think we let what they were doing affect us a little too much.”