Just because Baylor's Lady Red Raiders lost their "go-to" didn't mean they were gone.
The Lady Raiders came into their volleyball match Thursday against Harpeth Hall already having to try to keep their spirits up after dropping a 3-1 match to Briarcrest in the winners-bracket final of the TSSAA Division II-AA state tournament only a couple of hours before. Then, with Baylor leading the Honey Bears 18-16 in the first set, their kills leader for the season, Gabby Gray, went down with a right-ankle injury and did not return.
But the Lady Raiders seemed to come together after losing their leader and collectively worked their way to a 3-0 victory at Blackman that landed them in today's championship match.
Baylor (45-3) will get its rematch with Briarcrest at 11:30 a.m. EDT at Middle Tennessee State University's Murphy Center.
There was no definitive word on Gray's injury, but she had plans for an X-ray and will not be available for the final.
"We've just got to go out there," Baylor coach Sarah Lail said. "We'll play. My six versus your six. Let's go out and play."
Gray, who has accepted a scholarship offer to play at Western Carolina, had two kills and two digs against Harpeth Hall before the injury. After a few minutes of medical attention she was taken from the floor as both teams' fans applauded.
When play resumed, fellow senior Jane Wilson put down a kill and Baylor went right on rolling and won the first set 25-19. The next two were 25-23.
The Lady Raiders won the state championship when Gray was a sophomore. She was chosen most valuable player of the championship match that year.
"What a team effort," Lail said. "It killed me to see Gabby go down. She was saying, 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry.' I knew she had led us for so long. We had kids playing positions they hadn't played before. That shows how strong of a team this is when our leader goes down to still be able to be such a quality team."
Ally Craig had 13 kills in the match for the Lady Raiders and Wilson added eight. Lilly Turner had 19 digs and Sarah Sumida had 36 assists.
Gray led Baylor in the loss to Briarcrest with 18 kills. Set scores in that one were 25-23, 21-25, 25-23, 25-13.
Sumida had 43 assists in the loss, and Turner had 15 digs.
CLASS AA
Signal Mountain was dropped to the losers bracket Wednesday in its first match by a 3-2 loss to last year's champion Sullivan South. But the Lady Eagles have won every match since, including a 3-0 payback to the Lady Rebels at Siegel that lifted them into the Class AA championship match.
Signal Mountain (47-9), which was 3-0 on Thursday, plays Knoxville Catholic today at MTSU at 2:30 EDT.
Coach Jennifer Redman said she made a lineup change for the second match against Sullivan South and noted that junior Olivia Powers "played the match of her career." The Lady Eagles won by set scores of 25-21, 25-14, 25-17.
Aubrie Johnson led the win over Sullivan South with 16 kills and Maia Rackel added 12 and a team-high 18 digs. Sidney Lapinski led with 21 assists and five aces.
Their day began by defeating Dyersburg 3-0 (25-20, 25-17, 25-17) and beating Page 3-0 (25-21, 25-19, 25-19).
"I told them in the morning, 'Show me what you're made of,'" Redman said. "I'm super proud of them. It was a team effort all day."
CLASS A
Sale Creek won its first match Thursday at MTSU in the Class A event, 3-0 over Summertown. Set scores were 26-24, 25-20, 29-27.
However, the Lady Panthers' season came to an end with a fourth-place finish and a 41-7 record after a 3-0 loss to South Greene (25-17, 25-9, 25-20).
"It was a great season," Sale Creek coach Debbie Hill said. "I felt like we kept getting better as the season went on. We had a lot of young players improve a lot. I guess the biggest thing is that it was a good finish for Ariana (Smith) and Karah (Carson), our seniors."
Hill noted that junior Abbey Burton played well throughout the tournament run.
CLASS AAA
Cleveland, in its state debut, lost 3-0 to Farragut on Thursday at MTSU and finished with a 1-2 record in the Class AAA tournament. Set scores were 25-7, 25-17, 25-16.
The most significant statistic in the match for the Lady Raiders was Lauren Lee's 22 digs.
"The girls played with a lot of fight," coach Trish Flowers said. "I think they went out showing what mattered. We have high expectations in the future. We're going to work on getting better. I feel like we can hang with these teams."
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him on Twitter @KelleySmiddie.