Hixson volleyball player Paige Lawson, right, deflects the ball towards Red Bank player Allison Walker Tuesday at Hixson High School.Red Bank gave a shot Tuesday at muddying things at the top of the District 6-AA high school volleyball standings. But Hixson withstood the Lionettes' early barrage and rebounded to clear things up.
The Lady Wildcats edged Red Bank 3-2 at Hixson, coming back from a 2-0 deficit. Scores were 13-25, 25-27, 25-15, 27-25, 15-11.
A Lionettes win would've created a four-way tie for first place in the loss column with Central and East Ridge. Instead, Hixson (18-18, 5-0) remains the lone unbeaten.
The Lady Wildcats' final league match is Thursday at home agaist East Ridge. The Lady Pioneers also have a match remaining at Red Bank (16-18, 3-2) next Tuesday.
"If you can get the number one seed you can avoid somebody," Hixson coach Janet Tate said of the district tournament early next month. "We're not there yet. We won't be until we play East Ridge. We've got to take care of business."
Behind Rachel Thornbury's serve, Red Bank scored the first eight points of Tuesday's match. Although the Lady Wildcats battled back within 9-7, the Lionettes stretched their lead back out and coasted to the first-set victory.
The second set was close most of the way with Hixson twice early owning the largest lead at four points. Red Bank coach Mandi Munn said she was proud to see her team battle through and win, given it was doing the chasing much of the set.
The Lady Wildcats cruised in the third set after taking the lead for good at 8-7, then getting consecutive aces from Sam Dove for the next three points. They came from behind 10-4 to win the fourth.
The deciding set started with Red Bank scoring on three consecutive blocks by Dani Usher, but Hixson scored the next four points. The next key stretch was a 6-0 Lady Wildcats run to a 13-6 advantage.
"They've been in the fire a couple of times before and came out of it," Tate said of her team, which had played the Lionettes in late August and won then, too. "If there's such a thing, I think they like being in the fire.
"I thought Red Bank played fabulous. They improved since the last time we played them in the Choo Choo tournament."
Tay Tay Staten had 13 kills and a team-high four blocks for Hixson. Abby Tipton led with 26 digs, Bailey Burba was high with 30 assists and Dove was the leader with five aces. Paige Lawson's all-around performance included matching Staten in kills to go with three blocks, 21 digs and four aces.
Red Bank's leaders included Marjorie Smith with 12 kills, supported by Allison Walker and Caitlin Jenkins with 11 and 10. Usher totaled five blocks and Hannah Wood made 37 digs. Thornbury and Megan Paradis each had 13 assists, and Jenkins led in aces with three.
"They came ready to play," Munn said of her players. "But you've got to give credit where credit is due. It was a battle every single set. That's just the way it is. It's a credit to how tough our district is."
"We talked after the game and tried to dwell on the positives. We saw something and we'll try to fix that deal at a later time, but they played pretty well. Hixson just played well enough to win tonight."
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him at twitter.com/KelleySmiddie.