What a difference 10 days makes.
At least it did for the Ooltewah High School volleyball team, which gained a measure of payback. The Lady Owls lost to Cookeville in the Middle Tennessee Classic but won a more important match Monday against the Lady Cavaliers at Soddy-Daisy.
The Lady Owls’ 3-1 win in a Region 3-AAA tournament semifinal guarantees them a spot in one of Thursday’s state sectionals, where winners advance to the state tournament. It also ended Cookeville’s season.
Ooltewah (40-15) will take on host Soddy-Daisy (48-9) for the fifth time this season in the region final tonight. The Lady Owls’ only win in the previous meetings was in the Tennessee Tandem Invitational; most recently, the Lady Trojans won 3-2 in the District 5 championship match.
Soddy-Daisy beat Warren County 3-0 on Monday. Game scores were 25-21, 25-14, 25-19. The scores in Ooltewah’s match were 25-18, 17-25, 25-10, 25-19.
Ooltewah coach Elaine Peigen visually analyzed the previous match against Cookeville and said a few adjustments had to be made, particularly in trying to neutralize 6-foot-4 hitter Cody Dodd.
“We didn’t have a middle attack at all,” Peigen said of the previous meeting. “We didn’t serve well. We didn’t serve-receive well. That’s what happened in the second game. We didn’t serve and we didn’t pass.”
That second game Monday included a 16-1 run by the Lady Cavs that started with them trailing 14-6.
Other than that, things went the Lady Owls’ way. They never trailed in the first set and were twice down by one early in each of the last two.
Bridgette O’Brien sparked Ooltewah with 13 kills, two blocks and six digs, and three of her 16 service points were aces. Loren Bennett contributed 11 kills, three blocks, 19 assists and four digs, and Izabela Zdunek led the defense with 15 digs.
“I think they jumped out and decided they didn’t want their season to end,” Peigen said of her players’ response to losing the second game. “I thought Bridgette had some key hits, hitting off-speed when she had blockers in front of her. Loren Bennett just played all the way around, and Izabela, our libero, had the best night she’s had all year. Maybe that’s the beginning of something.”
The Lady Trojans, who beat Warren County in the Chattanooga Select Invitational they hosted, fell behind 9-3 at the start of their match. That prompted coach Lorri Johnson to call a timeout.
“As many matches as we’ve played, I don’t know why we’d be nervous,” Johnson said. “Certainly Warren County played better than the last time we played them. I really don’t think we were overlooking them. You’d think at this point they’d be ready to play. Hopefully we got the jitters out of the way and we’ll be ready to go to tomorrow.”
Johnson credited senior hitters Kelsey Nunley and Rachel Shaughnessy for ultimately getting some offense going. Nunley led the Lady Trojans with 15 kills, and Shaughnessy added 13.
Other leaders in the victory were Sarah Davis with 15 digs and five aces and Olivia Holden with 43 assists.
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653.