Ooltewah players Sidney Killingsworth, left, and Courtlyn Ison celebrate a point during their District 5-AAA high school volleyball championship match against East Hamilton on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2014, at Soddy-Daisy High School in Soddy-Daisy, Tenn. Ooltewah won the district championship in 3 sets, and both teams will go on to compete in the regionals.Ooltewah was in command practically from start to finish Wednesday and defeated East Hamilton 3-0 in the championship match of the District 5-AAA high school volleyball tournament at Soddy-Daisy. Set scores were 25-10, 25-15, 25-13.
Both teams advance to the Region 3 tournament, which starts Monday at either Rhea County or Cookeville. Rhea County faces Cookeville today for the District 5 championship with the winner earning the right to host the region. The region final is Tuesday.
Region finalists move on to Thursday's state sectionals where winners advance to the state tournament.
East Hamilton (18-26) was seeded sixth at Soddy-Daisy and managed to knock off the third- and second-seeded teams the first two days of the tournament. But the Lady Hurricanes were unable to handle top-seeded Ooltewah (47-7), which appeared to be at the top of its game.
"They're very, very good," East Hamilton coach Kristy Lenoir said of the Lady Owls. "No doubt about it. We would have to play our best and beyond some and they would need to play not their best. We had two long matches that took so much physical and emotional energy the last two days, I think both of them were about two hours apiece, I don't think we had too much left in the tank."
Ooltewah coach Elaine Peigen couldn't help but be pleased overall. But the coach in her wouldn't allow her to go without picking at something.
"I thought we got off to a little bit of a slow start," said Peigen, whose team was tied at 6 with the Lady 'Canes in the first set before going an a 7-0 run behind Alexis Godsey's serve.
The Lady Owls reeled off six consecutive points after falling behind 1-0 in the second set. With the third set 1-1, a 5-0 spurt started them toward closing out the match.
"Even though we're undefeated in the district, we still came out wanting to prove something," said Ooltewah's Courtlyn Ison, who was chosen the tournament's most valuable player. "It's the perfect time to be peaking right now."
Ison paced the Lady Owls with 14 of their 35 kills. Conversely, Emma Lenior led the Lady 'Canes with 10 of their 20 kills.
Ison was also the blocks leader with 6.5. Hanna Matthews totaled 28 assists and Josie Cain led Ooltewah with 15 digs and three aces.
Somer Batten's 11 digs led East Hamilton and assists leader Tori Harris with 13 contributed 10 digs.
Coach Lenoir said playing with enthusiasm was a key in her team winning Monday and Tuesday. Peigen noted that it's important for her team to play relaxed, and that was discussed in a brief practice before the championship match.
"We talked about having fun and picking yourself up," Peigen said. "If something bad happens, don't drop your head. It scares me that we started out slow though.
"Our passing has really improved. I think we're peaking a little bit. We still have to remain focused and be smart."
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/KelleySmiddie.