Signal Mountain's Taelor Kellum bumps the ball back over the net during the District 7-AA volleyball championship match against CCS at Signal Mountain High School on Thursday.Chattanooga Christian simply struggles with Signal Mountain in volleyball.
Signal's Lady Eagles defeated the Lady Chargers for a third time this season and claimed the District 7-AA championship as well on Thursday.
If they meet again -- and CCS coach Brian Wood wants that to happen -- it will be for the region championship next week.
Behind the power and touch of future Florida player Taelor Kellum, Signal Mountain swept the district championship by scores of 25-13, 25-17 and 25-19.
"We have a goal each time, and we set a goal and reached it," Kellum said. "We didn't play around. We finished how we wanted to."
Kellum had a match-high 18 kills and added 12 digs. Aryn Sanders led the Lady Eagles (39-10) with 18 digs, and Amanda Thielges had 25 assists.
Rylie Visser led CCS (23-21) with nine kills, while Taylor Youell had 16 assists and Hannah Stewart had 12 digs.
"We focused on our goals -- to not give up and keep our heads in the game and maintain the same play in each set," said Signal's Kennady Collick, who had 14 digs. "It's a huge advantage having Taelor because she's so powerful and so long and she's able to come through with a powerhouse and help us score."
Signal Mountain will face Livingston Academy on Tuesday at Macon County, which will host CCS that night as well.
"That's a very good team on the other side of the net," Wood said. "They make you eat the ball.
"We have to get better on our first contact, and we'll work on that the rest of the week before we go almost to Kentucky. Hopefully we'll see them again."
CCS never held a lead of more than three points in any set Thursday. The Lady Chargers led early in the first set before falling behind 22-11.
"Game one is who you think will win," Kellum said. "When we got game one I just knew we'd take it to the end."
In the second set, CCS trailed by two before Kellum scored three straight and five of Signal Mountain's next six points. The Lady Eagles never trailed in the third set and led by scores of 11-3 and and 20-10.
"We were ready to go," Signal Mountain coach Jennifer Redman said. "We attacked their weakness."
Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6484. Follow him at twitter.com/UchiyamaCTFP.