Chalk one up for experience.
Lookout Valley came into the District 6-A high school volleyball tournament as the regular-season champion and top-seeded team. But host and second-seeded Sale Creek came away Tuesday with its fifth consecutive district-tournament title.
The Lady Panthers did it in dramatic fashion, too, rallying from two sets down to edge Lookout Valley 3-2. Set scores were 21-25, 17-25, 25-12, 26-24, 15-11.
Sale Creek advanced to the championship match by beating Van Buren County 3-0 (25-19, 25-6, 25-7) the match before. The day's action got under way with the Lady Yellow Jackets defeating Marion County 3-0 (25-15, 25-7, 25-12).
Sale Creek (30-20) and Lookout Valley (18-4) advance to next week's Region 3 tournament. Times and a location will be determined Thursday after Boyd-Buchanan and Grace Academy play for the District 5 title at 6 p.m. at Grace.
Lookout Valley coach Pat Conard conceded that Sale Creek is the more experienced team in handling pressure situations.
But the first two sets had Sale Creek coach Debbie Hill perplexed.
"I tried everything the first two games," Hill said. "I got mad. I got happy. I didn't say anything. When they decide to play, they can play. They decided to flip the switch."
The fourth set could've gone either way, but the Lady Jackets were never in the third.
"The third game we did terrible, just passing first of all," Conard said. "We couldn't get it to our setter."
Annie Marr totaled 33 assists for Lookout Valley, but it didn't prove to be enough.
"We can't get our offense going if we can't get it to Annie," Conard said.
Tournament most valuable player Jordan Duncan led Sale Creek with 19 kills and five blocks. Bailey Pugh led with 25 aces and Sydney Poe led with 23 digs. Ariana Smith, who was injured when the Lady Panthers lost to Lookout Valley in the regular season, had five aces.
Savannah Walker's 22 kills topped the Lady Jackets. Bri Evers was the digs leader with 20, and Marr also was the aces leader with eight.
Hill also noted the significance of the match being at home.
"Playing here was huge," Hill said. "I feel like our fans would've been with us at Lookout Valley, too. Our parents have been really loyal. Still, a lot of kids were here. A lot of them were from our other sports teams. We know we've got to stick together."
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him at twitter.com/KelleySmiddie.