CHURCH HILL — The Volunteer Lady Falcons will get the opportunity to defend their Region 1-AA volleyball title, following a 3-0 victory over Gibbs in the winners’ bracket of the District 2-AA tournament on Wednesday at The Nest.
Volunteer swept Gibbs 3-0 (25-17, 25-22, 25-18) to advance to Thursday’s District 1-AA championship game and earn the automatic berth into next week’s regional. A Volunteer victory on Thursday night would keep the action on the Lady Falcons’ home court, as the district’s top seed hosts the regional.
Gibbs and Grainger, a 3-1 winner over Cherokee in the other semifinal, were set to battle Thursday at 5:30 p.m. for the other spot in the district championship match and the other regional berth. Either team would have to beat Volunteer twice (in Thursday’s final and a second if-necessary match on Friday) to take the district crown from the defending champion Lady Falcons.
The results from Thursday’s matches will be unavailable for the Weekend e-edition. However, those scores and the regional pairings will be updated online at therogersvillereview.com.
“Every team is just getting better and better as the season goes on. I hope we’re doing the same. But it’s just going to be that tough and tougher from now on,” said Volunteer head coach Nora Barton.
The Lady Falcons put themselves in the driver’s seat by doing the same thing they’ve done all year. They played tenacious defense and used their versatility to keep Gibbs off balance. Senior Adah Snodgrass and sophomore Kayla Capson both had strong nights hitting the ball and blocking.
Snodgrass amassed 16 kills and added 12 digs and three blocks. Capson had 10 kills with seven digs and a block. Senior Isabella Byington had a great night at the net, with five blocks. Seniors Lexi Hilton and Lily Christian and junior Aubree Hall all contributed defensively at the net.
“Our front row was really pivotal, especially on the defensive end,” said Barton. “They saw the court well. They were looking for the tips. We were looking for the hard hits. That’s just part of it, being able to read the hitter and know where to go and make your body move there. They did much better with that tonight.”
Volunteer managed to slow down a hard-hitting Gibbs attack that includes Ella Brannan, who was honored earlier this week for her 1,000th career kill.
“I told them, at the beginning, Ella’s a great player and she’s going to get hers. We just don’t want her to get all of them. I said, ‘Put up a big block, turn your hands in, be a wall and we’ll see what we can do.’ They did a great job with that,” Barton said.
Christian had 31 assists in the match, to go with eight digs and three kills. Hall finished with four kills and four digs. Hilton had six digs, a block and one kill. Defensive specialist Chloe Redwine had 13 digs in the match. Senior Mattie Crowder added six.
Brannan and teammates Jadyn Parker and Annie Buckner continued to play well on the front row for the Lady Eagles, who beat Cherokee 3-0 (25-11, 25-11, 25-17) on Tuesday to reach the winners’ bracket final.
Volunteer advanced with a 3-0 (25-9, 25-17, 25-11) win over Grainger on Tuesday in the other semifinal. Capson racked up 16 kills for Volunteer, while Snodgrass added 15 against the Lady Grizzlies. Capson added 10 digs and Snodgrass eight.
Christian had 36 assists in the semifinal match. Redwine had 17 digs. Christian and Crowder had six each. Hall chipped in four digs and two kills, while Byington added two kills and three digs.
Though Volunteer was in control from start to finish in both matches, Barton took a timeout midway through the second set against Gibbs to remind her Lady Falcons to stay on the attack.
“A lot of times, it’s not really who’s winning. It’s who’s not losing in that moment. We really want to shift from that, from not losing to being the team that wins, that is able to put the ball down when we need to put the ball down and we struggle with that sometimes,” Barton said.
Volunteer ran the table in the regular season to secure the top seed in the District 2-AA tournament. They have not lost a match to a conference opponent since moving to District 2-AA with the current two-year TSSAA alignment cycle. Earlier this season, Gibbs became the only Twin Lakes team to win a single set against Volunteer in two years.
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