For the last decade-plus, there has been at least one Chernak, Sullivan or Milliken on an Ooltewah volleyball roster. In most of those years, there's been at least one of each.
But 2017 marks the end of that run. Ally Chernak, Tyler Sullivan and Macy Milliken are in the midst of their high school senior seasons with the Lady Owls, who were one of the hosts along with Red Bank this weekend for the 31st Choo Choo Classic.
Ooltewah (11-11) played well enough in pool play to qualify to play in the Gold bracket Saturday at Red Bank, but it lost in single-elimination to fellow District 5-AAA opponent Walker Valley. The Lady Mustangs ended up advancing to the final but lost 2-0 to GPS. Set scores were 25-19, 25-14.
Red Bank won the Silver final at Ooltewah, defeating Soddy-Daisy 2-1. Set scores were 25-17, 14-25, 16-14.
Jessica Chernak is a 2009 Ooltewah graduate and was the first among the clan to become a member of the Lady Owls' volleyball program in the fall of 2005. Ally recalls being 6 years old and coming to matches when Jessica was on the team.
Ally also plays softball for Ooltewah, as did both of her sisters. Jessica played softball at Austin Peay and Kelsey will be a senior on East Tennessee State's softball team in the spring.
"I saw how much they loved it," Ally said of her older sisters playing both sports. "I thought I might love it, too."
The Sullivans are the same type of two-sport family. Middle sister Sloan is a senior on Middle Tennessee State's volleyball team.
"I just love volleyball and softball," said Tyler, whose oldest sister, Morgan, graduated from Ooltewah in 2010. "Growing up as a kid, I couldn't help it, being here beside it every day."
The Millikens are more of a volleyball family, although Macy said older sister Maddie played basketball her freshman year at Ooltewah.
These youngest ones have fond memories of watching their older siblings play while they waited their turns to become Lady Owls.
Ally remembers the energy in the building the day Ooltewah hosted and defeated Columbia 3-1 in a state sectional Kelsey's senior year that sent the team to the state tournament. Tyler recalled a particular moment when Sloan, listed at 5-foot-6 on the MTSU roster, responded in a special situation.
"I remember she blocked one of the best hitters they played against," Tyler said. "She was not even a front-row player much back then. That was her favorite moment, I know that, or one of her favorite moments."
With eight total girls from the three families and spanning that much time, it's easy to see how that could be a little confusing for Ooltewah volleyball coach Elaine Peigen. She admits to have gotten befuddled at times, which explains why the girls understand why they now usually get called by their last names.
"I'll call Tyler 'Sloan,' or 'Morgan.' I've done it many, many times," Peigen said. "Macy and Maddie have a lot of the same hand movements when they set the ball. Both are a lot alike in their mannerisms."
The sad part for Peigen is that after this season, not only is she losing three valuable members of the team, she'll miss three families that have been completely invested in the program for multiple years.
Rick and Amy Milliken are the team organizers. Ken Chernak and Pat Sullivan have handled public-address announcing before matches and called lines during matches. Their wives, Gayle Chernak and Leigh Sullivan, may help out with scorekeeping, or some other duty.
Peigen will have them around at least another month. Postseason gets started the first week in October, so teams have a few weeks left to try to make upgrades.
"I think this team is really going to do that," Peigen said. "We've had a slow start, but by no means are we someone to take lightly."
The Lady Owls had put together a string of District 5 championships until Cleveland unseated them last year. Then the Lady Raiders opened the district season this year by hosting and beating Ooltewah on Aug. 17. Macy already knows the second Cleveland match is at the end of the year - on Ooltewah's senior day.
"We're improving," she said. "We've had our moments. We've had some downfalls this season. But that's not stopping us from wanting to get better."
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him on Twitter @KelleySmiddie.