Signal Mountain’s volleyball team found itself in a fourth game Thursday at Lookout Valley, down by nine points, two points away from going to a decisive fifth game with the Lady Yellow Jackets, when both teams seemed to realize something. The Lady Eagles were supposed to win.
Turning to its foremost hitter, Callie Hildebrand, Signal Mountain rallied for a 27-25 victory and won the District 6-A high school match 3-1. The previous game scores were 25-14, 20-25, 25-20.
Lookout Valley was up 23-14 when a serve went long and gave Signal Mountain a point and the serve. That was the first of eight consecutive points before a dink by Chandler Brooks put the Lady Jackets on game point at 24-22.
But the Lady Eagles scored four of the next five points – three on kills by Hildebrand, who totaled 22 in the match. The game ended when Lookout Valley put a fourth hit on Sydni Abbajay’s serve.
“We said we were going to set for her until her arm falls off,” Signal Mountain coach Jennifer Redman said of her team’s strategy of looking to Hildebrand. “She’s definitely our go-to.”
In their bid to knock off the defending district regular-season and tournament champions, the Lady Jackets had owned the lead in the fourth game since breaking a tie at 2.
“We started playing more not to lose than playing to win,” Lookout Valley coach Pat Conard said. “We’re a little inexperienced. None of these kids have been in this situation before. We tried to make some adjustments defensively. They’re good. They’re good all around.”
Redman expected to get a spirited effort from Lookout Valley, then rationalized how her team withstood it.
“At Signal Mountain we’re used to playing tough opponents all the time,” Redman said. “I think that’s what helped us.”
Georgia Paturalski’s all-around performance for Signal Mountain (21-6, 5-0) included 35 assists, eight digs, six kills, two blocks and two aces. Allie Jennings’ 14 digs and Carly Jonakin’s five blocks were team highs.
Brooks paced her team with 18 kills. Hannah Walraven had 19 assists and Caroline Ware had 16 digs for Lookout Valley (13-3, 5-1), which plays the Lady Eagles again in a match that doesn’t count in the league standings and could see them again in the district tournament.
“I think it goes back to the first game,” Conard said. “We didn’t serve the ball well. We didn’t receive it well. If we could’ve come out a little better in the first game, I think we could’ve set the tone differently.”
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or (423) 757-6653.