Baylor began the TSSAA state volleyball tournament with a dominant defensive performance.
The Lady Red Raiders blocked 13 shots in Tuesday's Division II-AA state quarterfinals victory over St. Agnes, 25-17, 23-25, 25-14, 25-13 at Murfreesboro's Middle Tennessee Christian School.
Junior Sierra Herndon had seven kills and a team-high five blocks, while sophomore Nadia Sixto provided 12 kills and three blocks. Baylor (11-4) has won nine straight and will take on Briarcrest (12-2) in Wednesday's semifinals at 1:30.
The Lady Red Raiders were also led by Elaine Redman (21 digs, 18 assists, six kills), Tess Margio (eight kills, three blocks), Emma Gray (23 digs), Libby May (14 assists), Eli Kinney (16 digs), Morgan Sharpe (15 digs) and Holland Moss (four kills).
Division II-A's Notre Dame (31-4) is also one win away from the state championship match and will face Goodpasture (31-2) in the winner's bracket semifinals Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. at MTCS.
The Lady Fighting Irish swept BGA, 25-22, 25-11 and 25-15, as Riley McCormick and Lindsey Burns combined for 37 digs and five aces. Notre Dame was led by seniors McKenna Brown (15 kills and 10 digs) and Mary Fillauer (27 assists, five kills, seven digs, two aces, block).
Sale Creek also won Tuesday with a sweep over Halls, 25-17, 25-13 and 25-16, and will face Loretto (27-10) in Wednesday's 11 a.m. Class A quarterfinals at Stewarts Creek High School. Also in Class A, Meigs County lost their first match of the season to Summertown, 7-25, 9-25, 11-25. The Lady Tigers (18-1) will take on Union City in the loser's bracket.
In Class AA, Signal Mountain and East Hamilton will meet today at 4 in a loser's bracket match at Blackman High School. The Lady Eagles (18-17) were swept by Nolensville while the Lady Hurricanes (17-12) fell to Crockett County in four sets.
Staff photo by Troy Stolt / Baylor's Elaine Redman sets the ball during the volleyball game between Baylor and GPS on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2020 at GPS in Chattanooga, Tenn.SOCCER
* Notre Dame 2, University School of Nashville 1: Kenzie Campbell scored the game-winning goal in the first overtime period to help the Lady Fighting Irish avenge last year's state tournament loss to USN and advance to the Division II-A state quarterfinals.
* Silverdale Baptist 1, Grace Christian Academy 1: The Lady Seahawks won 4-2 in penalty kicks to advance to the Division II-A state quarterfinals. After falling behind 1-0 in penalty kicks after the first round, Bri Mendoza scored to the corner and was followed by a save from Tinley Carr. Silverdale rolled from there as Brooke Bolton, Addie Chapman and Gracie Renegar all scored off PK's to seal a thrilling victory. Renegar also scored in the 10th minute.
* Signal Mountain 8, Huntland 0: Seniors Briley Lowry and Camilla Mincey led a high-scoring attack for the two-time defending Class A state champions who will host Thursday's regional final against Community. Maddie Avery was stellar defensively and passing, while Lilly Whitney and Reilly Furr also stood out.
SOFTBALL
Class AAA 1st round playoffs
* Ringgold 6-9, Gilmer 3-1: The Region 6 No. 4-seeded Tigers (19-15), the defending state champions, swept the Region 7 champions in Ellijay. Ringgold hit three first-game homers to back the seven innings of two-earned runs, seven-strikeout pitching of Alyissa Sue. Jade Gainer, Riley Nayadley and Amber Gainer each hit homers and combined to drive in four runs in game one.
Taylor Layne went all six innings in game two, allowing five hits and one run while striking out six. Amber Gainer hit another homer and added a triple while driving in two and scoring twice, with sister Jade Gainer adding three hits, Baliegh Pitts two hits and two RBIs and Layne two hits and an RBI in game two.
* Sonoraville 5-7, White County 0-0: Sonoraville (16-8) ace Taylor Long pitched a pair of shutouts, going 14 innings and allowing five hits, three runs and striking out 26 to pace the sweep. Long had two hits, as did Taylor West, in game one, while West, Kelly Green and Daelynn Cochran drove in a run each.
Green was 3-for-3, including a triple and double, and drove in two runs, while Long and Olyvia Hopper added two hits and an RBI each in game two.
* Coahulla Creek 8-13, North Hall 0-1: The Region 6 tournament champions improved to 24-5 as ace Sophia Voyles pitched a six-inning perfect game with 10 strikeouts in game one and Steahl Smith allowed one hit and struck out nine in the four-inning game two.
Smith had two hits in game one and four in game two with a combined six RBIs and four runs scored. Emma Snyder was 4-for-6 with two RBIs in the two games while Meka Henson drove in three runs.
Class A public 1st round playoffs
* Gordon Lee 8-16, Glascock County 0-0: Allie Farrow had six hits and nine RBIs to lead the defending state champs to the sweep. Emma Langston pitched a five-inning perfect game with seven strikeouts in game one, while Emma Minghini allowed a hit and fanned nine in five innings in game two.
Minghini had two hits, two RBIs and scored three runs in game one, while going 3-for-4 with three RBIs in game two for the Lady Trojans 25-3).
* Trion 7-8, Crawford County 2-4: The Lady Bulldogs (12-6) advanced into the second round as Jenna Mosley drove in three runs and scored twice. Ransley Lawrence allowed three hits in five innings to win game one, while Trion rallied from a 4-0 deficit in game two with six runs in the fifth inning, four of them the result of three errors, two wild pitches and a passed ball.
FOOTBALL
North Murray defeated Coahulla Creek in a Tuesday night special, 28-14, as Seth Griffin passed for three touchdowns and ran for another. Griffin started the scoring with a 10-yard run and added first-half touchdown passes of 50 yards to Cade Petty another 50 to D'Ante Tidwell. Those two hooked up again in the fourth quarter after the Colts had made it a seven-point game with an 89-yard touchdown pass for the Mountainners (3-2, 3-1 in Region 6-AAA).
Tyson King had an interception return for touchdown in the first half and Cade Kinnamon a touchdown pass to Justin Baker in the third quarter for Coahulla Creek (1-4, 0-3).