Cleveland defeated Walker Valley 3-1 on Tuesday and claimed the Region 3-AAA high school volleyball championship at Cleveland. Set scores were 28-26, 25-19, 15-25, 25-20.
Both teams advance to Thursday's state sectionals. Cleveland (32-15) will host Blackman at 7 p.m. Walker Valley will play at Siegel in Murfreesboro at 8 p.m. EDT. Winners advance to the state tournament.
The Lady Raiders trailed 7-0 to start their match before rallying. Cleveland coach Trish Flowers said despite losing a set she felt her team played better against the Lady Mustangs in beating them for a fourth time this season than in the previous meetings.
"I think we got in a little funk there, but we showed some fight," Flowers said. "Walker Valley is a hometown rival. It's one of those things where you've got to fight to the finish, and we did just that."
Emma Flowers led Cleveland with 31 kills and five aces. Hannah Longley led with 24 digs and Anna Renshaw had 38 assists.
Walker Valley was led in kills by Aly Grace Lemons with 13. Sophie Frederick had 37 assists, Carissa Frost had 23 digs and Macy Nipper had five blocks.
* GPS 3, Harpeth Hall 0: At Harpeth Hall in the first round of the Division II-AA state tournament, the Bruisers won by set scores of 25-22, 25-20, 25-21. Reagan Long had 12 kills and Emma Moore had 36 assists. Charlotte Vance led in digs with 25 and Hannah Kincer led with three blocks.
"We ran our middles really well," GPS coach Alfie Dodd said. "I thought getting our middles going would make them have to stick with them. That allowed our outsides to have single blocks instead of double blocks. We spread the wealth around."
GPS plays at Brentwood Academy at 6 p.m. EDT on Thursday.
"You can't make mistakes against them," Dodd said. "They're really talented."
* Bledsoe County 3, Polk County 1: At Bledsoe County in the Region 2-A championship match, the set scores were 25-17, 19-25, 25-15, 26-24.
Rachel Hale led the victory with 19 kills. Keslin Moore led the Lady Warriors with 10 digs and equaled Brittany Miller with five aces. Rylee Reece had 17 assists.