Baylor has advanced to a TSSAA volleyball state championship match for the ninth time in program history and today will try to earn its fourth title.
On Wednesday, the Lady Red Raiders defeated Brentwood Academy 3-1 at Blackman to secure the Division II-AA berth. Set scores were 30-28, 25-17, 20-25, 25-23.
Baylor (41-5) will play at 11:30 a.m. EDT at Middle Tennessee State University against Briarcrest, which defeated Brentwood Academy 3-2 in the losers bracket to get there.
Baylor coach Sarah Lail said she is only familiar with the Lady Saints from having watched their matches at this year’s state tournament. That, and having lost to them in last year’s final.
“It’s going to be a great challenge,” said Lail, acknowledging Briarcrest’s strength is its two NCAA Division I-bound middle blockers. “Those two big D-I middles are explosive. Hopefully we can stop them and play our game.”
Ally Craig and Denver Rogers paced the Lady Raiders with 14 kills apiece, and Zoe Ubamadu chipped in with 11 while leading them with six blocks. Six players had at least six digs, led by Rogers with 10. Elizabeth Case led with five aces and Sarah Sumida had 55 assists.
» Class AAA at MTSU: Cleveland’s season came to an end with a 3-1 loss to Collierville. Set scores were 25-20, 20-25, 27-25, 25-20.
The Lady Raiders drew Brentwood High – which has won the past four state championships and is in the title match again – in Tuesday’s opening round. They lost to the Lady Bruins 3-0, as did Hardin Valley and Siegel in the next rounds, but they scored a total of 56 points against them, compared to the 47 and 45 those others scored.
Cleveland (34-17) then had to play another match Tuesday night and dropped the first two sets to Houston before rallying to win.
“The girls were just spent,” Cleveland coach Trish Flowers said of Wednesday’s match. “I think they were mentally, emotionally and physically drained. We had spots of greatness, but we also had a lot of unforced errors. Collierville didn’t beat us. We beat ourselves.”
Emma Flowers’ 32 kills and 3.5 blocks were team highs for the Lady Raiders, who went 1-2 last year in their first appearance at state. Hannah Longley had 24 digs and Anna Renshaw 41 assists along with matching Nicole Glaser’s three aces.
“This year I felt we knew what it was like being there,” Coach Flowers said. “It wasn’t like our first trip. There were no state tournament jitters at all. It was simply being just a case where we couldn’t pull it all together. I’m proud of them. We did as good as last year, but this was even more of a struggle because it was harder to get there.”
» Class AA at MTSU: Signal Mountain (44-9) eliminated East Hamilton 3-1 in its first match of the day. The Lady Eagles then defeated Camden 3-1 before losing to Portland 3-1 and ending up third.
The set scores against the Lady Hurricanes were 25-15, 22-25, 25-23, 28-26 and against Camden were 25-19, 25-13, 23-25, 25-18. The loss to Portland was 25-16, 26-24, 18-25, 25-17.
Madison Hayes was the leader for East Hamilton (23-5) with 21 kills, eight aces and 13 digs. Raine Phillips was the blocks leader with three, and Hillary English was the assists leader with 23.
“We fought,” first-year East Hamilton coach Bruna Langner said. “The girls gave their best and had a great attitude. But at the end of the day, sometimes experience wins out. Signal Mountain kept pounding.”
The Lady Canes’ first varsity season was 2009. This year marked their first district championship, their third region title and third state appearance, with the others in 2011 and ’12.
“We wanted to go to state, or that’s what I had got in my head,” Langner said about her youthful group. “Maybe it was a surprise for everybody. It was a great season; very successful. The girls are amazing. I’m very excited about next year.”
» Class A at Siegel: Loretto ended Sale Creek’s season at 37-14 with a 3-2 victory. Set scores were 25-23, 22-25, 11-25, 25-23, 15-13.