East Hamilton's Lady Hurricanes need just two more wins on the volleyball court to be crowned TSSAA Class AA state champions.
Led by seniors Maddie Allen, McKenna Hayes and Amya Sutton, coach Antonela Suzuki's team battled to a thrilling five-set victory over Anderson County in the state quarterfinals Wednesday at Rockvale High School. East Hamilton won with its set scores 25-27, 25-14, 25-27, 25-22 and 20-18, overcoming deficits of 9-5 and 13-11 in the fifth set.
Sutton led the Lady Hurricanes (30-5) with 17 kills and 21 digs, while Hayes had 14 kills, 18 digs, four aces and three blocks. Allen added a dozen kills, Tristin Sutton had 42 assists and Morgan Bone and Georgia Dobson combined for nine blocks.
The Lady Hurricanes will play Dyer County (40-11) in the semifinals at 3:30 p.m. Eastern on Thursday at Rockvale.
Class AAA contender Cleveland was the only other Chattanooga-area team to remain undefeated at state.
The Lady Blue Raiders beat Collierville in four sets, losing 27-25 before winning 26-24, 28-26 and 25-17 at Blackman High School in Murfreesboro. Cleveland (38-11) will take on Ravenwood (26-13) in the semifinals at 3:30 p.m. Eastern on Thursday at Blackman.
In Division II-A, Notre Dame finished the season with a 30-7 record after being eliminated with losses to Battle Ground Academy, which won 24-26, 25-18, 25-17, 28-26, and Concord Christian, which won 21-25, 25-21, 24-25, 25-23, 15-9.
Mary Fillauer had a combined 94 assists and nine aces in the two matches. Other standouts for the Lady Fighting Irish were Maggie Fillauer (26 kills, 36 digs), Regan Wolf (34 kills), Sam Brown (22 kills) and Riley McCormick (48 digs).
Sale Creek kept its Class A title dream alive with a sweep of Westview, 25-12, 25-15, 25-8. The Lady Panthers (30-12) will play South Greene (37-4) in an elimination game at 1 p.m. Eastern on Thursday at Siegel High School in Murfreesboro.
Signal Mountain took its first loss in the Class AA bracket as Dyer County won 25-22, 25-21, 25-18. The Lady Eagles (18-17) will play Hume-Fogg in an elimination match at 10:30 a.m. Eastern on Thursday at Rockvale.
Contact Patrick MacCoon at pmaccoon@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @PMacCoon.