Dominance is often hard to come by for a team, as many twists and turns can shake up the path to greatness through the course of a season.
However, even with one of their established leaders out in senior Aubrie Johnson (finger), the Signal Mountain Lady Eagles continued their District 7-AA volleyball domination with a 3-0 defeat of visiting Notre Dame in the tournament final Thursday night.
With set wins of 25-11, 25-12 and 25-9, Jennifer Redman's team capped off a season in which they did not lose a single set in any district match. Behind junior standout Maia Rackel's nine kills, eight digs and seven blocks and senior setter Sidney Lapinski's 16 assists and nine digs, Signal Mountain (40-9) also notched its third season of 40-plus wins in program history.
"I don't want to jinx anything, but our seniors have won district four years in a row, region three years in a row and sectionals three times in a row as well," ninth-year Signal Mountain coach Jennifer Redman said. "We are focused and we still have many other things we want to accomplish this season."
Notre Dame (18-10) also advances to the Region 4-AA tournament next week against competition from District 8-AA that includes a powerhouse in Upperman.
The Lady Irish hung around in the first set for a bit and trailed 14-10. However, Rackel made her presence felt in the middle with two nearly unreturnable hits for kills and had a block while teammate Mackenzie Lewis served two aces in a 8-0 run for the Lady Eagles.
With its height advantage Signal Mountain had nine blocks and limited Notre Dame at the net throughout the contest - a strength needed to sustain a deep postseason run.
"We've been really working on our blocking because we have so many tall girls in the front row," Lapinski said. "It will really help. We just need to stay consistent with that and our passing when we don't get a block."
Signal Mountain controlled the second set and broke a 7-all tie with a 7-0 run to take control. Cora Henson had two of her four kills in the second set and added a block for the Lady Eagles.
Rackel showed off her leaping ability in the final set, as she had four blocks, three kills and led Signal Mountain on an 18-0 run to the district championship.
"The fact that she can jump out of the gym is what impresses me the most about Maia," Coach Redman said. "She has a 32-inch vertical jump on her approach. When you can jump that high it changes the trajectory of the ball, and it's just hard to defend."
This year the seniors for the Lady Eagles are just trying to do what was passed down to them.
"The past seniors have really given us a good example of how to lead the team," Lapinski said. "We have basically been carrying on what they brought to our team. We have a young team and some eighth-graders, and we just want to help them the best we can."
Contact Patrick MacCoon at sports@timesfreepress.com