If ever a 3-1 volleyball victory was hard-earned, it was the one Sale Creek earned over host Grace Academy on Tuesday in the TSSAA Region 3-A tournament final. Set scores were 20-25, 25-22, 25-23, 25-22.
"That was the hardest 3-1 win we've ever had," Sale Creek coach Debbie Hill said, "because every point was a battle."
Sale Creek (38-5) will be at home in Thursday's sectional round, although that home will be Hixson Middle School because some roof work is being done at the Lady Panthers' gymnasium. They will face Red Boiling Springs at 7 p.m.
Grace (30-10) will play at Region 4 champion Goodpasture at 8 EDT.
The Lady Golden Eagles led the entire first set except for ties at 14 and 15 and Sale Creek's brief 15-14 lead. They got up 14-9 in the second set.
"I didn't feel like we came around until we got down in the second set," Hill said. "Finally I had to push them to get up, and when they did, good things started to happen."
Sale Creek's largest lead in the third set was three, and in the fourth set it was four. Grace's largest in the third set was two, including 22-20, and 4-1 in the fourth.
Grace coach Hillary Waters said she sensed some hesitation in her team's play after the first set, and it proved to be costly.
"I felt like we were waiting on our other teammates," Waters said. "It wasn't because we weren't trying hard. It was like we assumed somebody else was going to get it. I feel like when we play our best ball, like we did in game one, it's because we play together and play hard and go all out."
Gracie Janow led the Lady Panthers with 15 kills and was selected the most valuable player. Three other Lady Panthers had at least six kills.
Not unexpectedly, the match leader in kills was Grace's Alexandra Smith with 18.
"You've got to realize Alexandra is going to get her kills," Hill said. "If you start worrying about that, then you're going to miss two or three more points."w
Other leaders for Sale Creek were Morgan Weatherford with 32 digs, Bailey Nelson with 21 assists and four aces and Sydney Gibson with six blocks.
The Lady Golden Eagles got 44 digs from Maggie Long and 39 assists from Summer Dean.
Cleveland prevails
Cleveland defeated host Cookeville 3-1 for the Region 3-AAA title Tuesday. Set scores were 25-19, 14-25, 25-22, 25-22.
The Lady Raiders (37-12) got to the final by beating Warren County on Monday. They'll host Murfreesboro Oakland in a state sectional Thursday at 7 p.m.
"I'm just really proud of the girls," Cleveland coach Trish Flowers said. "This is the first time for us to ever win the region championship. It's been a while since we've even made it to the region, but the girls just fought hard. I think we got our first-game jitters out of the way in those first two sets against Warren County."
Emma Flowers led the team with 31 kills, four aces and 15 digs.There were three Lady Raiders with double digits in digs.
"We're happy that we get to host the sub-state game in our brand new Raider Arena, and that we'll be able to have a lot of fans there," Coach Flowers said. "From this point on, we're just going to enjoy the ride. These girls have met every one of their goal, and the seniors have all improved drastically."
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him at twitter.com@KelleySmiddie.