AFTON — The South Greene Lady Rebels volleyball team will make its 16th straight state tournament appearance after sweeping Chattanooga School for the Liberal Arts 25-15, 25-21, 25-18 in a Class A sectional on Thursday at Chuckey-Doak High School.
“I’m more proud of this team as any other team I’ve ever coached,” South Greene coach Stephen Gregg said. “You look around at everything they’ve had to endure, since their eighth grade year until now. Life throws you curveballs. This is the most gritty, resilient team that I can remember having.
“We set out to be here the first of the season, and a lot of people around us might have thought we were crazy for thinking that.”
A few weeks ago, the Lady Rebels had an 8-8 record. Now they’re 14-8 and headed to Murfreesboro yet again.
South Greene will open its state tourney run against Union City (18-6) at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday at Blackman High School.
“The girls are on a mission,” Gregg said. “We were .500 two weeks ago and I can’t remember if we’ve lost a set in this run. I told them I’m proud of them, but I still haven’t seen their best. I think they can still play better. There’s more in the tank.”
South Greene senior Davanie Tarlton played a big role in getting the team back on track after the rough start. One of her goals this season was not being the team to end the Rebels’ consecutive state run.
“It’s great,” she said. “Just a big relief, just a big pressure has been taken off everybody’s backs. We get to go back and try to fight and see how far we can make it.”
The Lady Rebels have faced more adversity this season than any Lady Rebels team in the past.
With a fire making their gym unplayable near the beginning of the season, as well as flooding in the area, the Lady Rebels were only able to play two matches at South Greene High School. But Tarlton said that might have been just what the team needed to toughen them up for a state run.
“We have been away our whole season,” Tarlton said. “We couldn’t even go back and play our substate game at home. I think that’s going to be a really big advantage for us. We’re used to playing away and traveling.”
Just because the Lady Rebels have been hardened doesn’t mean they don’t have anything to work on before the state tourney. Tarlton said they need to clean up errors and fix their mindset when they get down.
“We can’t get down when we make a mistake,” she said. “Tonight, that really showed. We would make like two mistakes in a row and be down for 10 points. We just need to stay up with our energy and not give them easy points.”
After the Lady Eagles built a 4-3 lead to start the first set, the Lady Rebels’ Addison Compton served seven straight points, including an ace, to go up 10-4. Also in the run, Reagan Arrowood had a block and a kill and Tarlton had a kill.
South Greene kept a steady lead until they were up 13-11, when they exploded for eight points in quick succession to take a 21-12 lead. The Lady Eagles’ attempt at a comeback was cut short after three points, 21-15. Then the Lady Rebels scored four straight, ended by another Compton ace.
In the second set, the Lady Rebels jumped ahead to a 3-0 lead, but the Lady Eagles were quick to tie it. Neither team could string together a run, leading to a 12-8 South Greene lead.
Late in the set, the Lady Rebels held a 21-19 lead after a kill from Tarlton and an ace from Whitney Reaves. Chattanooga was able to make it a one point match, 21-20, but the Lady Rebels weren’t about to be denied set two, scoring four of the next five points to go up 2-0 for the match.
With the season on the line, the Lady Eagles made a surge to save their season in the third set. They took a 5-3 lead before the Lady Rebels took a 6-5 lead off of back-to-back kills from Reaves.
Then the Lady Eagles found several holes in the South Greene defense to take a 10-6 lead. Reaves added another kill to cut it to 10-7 but two more points from Chattanooga put the Lady Rebels down five points.
However, South Greene tightened up and exploded for 10 straight points, stealing any hope from the Lady Eagles. Reaves served two aces during the stretch and the Lady Rebels had three kills from Sadie Trammell and a kill and block from Baylee Jennings.
“I felt like they were really focused on the serving line,” Gregg said. “I don’t think we had a serving error. That tells you something. We fell behind that set and they managed to control their emotions, they didn’t let their emotions become their actions. That was good to see the mental edge was there because it’s a lot of serving attempts there. Especially in a tight game.”
What made the run more impressive was the team’s power hitter, Tarlton, was getting a rest on the bench, allowing other Lady Rebels to step up and make the plays.
“Our passers stepped up, made some hustle plays,” Gregg said. “Baylee Jennings, Sadie Trammell, Reagan Arrowood, Whitney (Reaves), they all contributed. I wasn’t displeased with anybody. Moving forward, we can breathe a little.”
With a 17-12 lead following the 10-point run, the Lady Rebels cruised to a 25-18 set win and another state tourney trip.
“You don’t have favorites, you have favorite moments of each team,” Gregg admitted. “But this team right here, it’s tugging on my heartstrings.”
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