CHURCH HILL — The Grainger Lady Grizzlies ended Cherokee’s volleyball season on Wednesday in the District 2-AA tournament semifinals at Volunteer High School. But the Lady Chiefs certainly went down swinging.
Seniors Kristen Gillett and Nicole Bradley led a hard-hitting Cherokee attack in the elimination round between the tournament’s evenly matched No. 3 and 4 seeds. Eventually, the Lady Grizzlies prevailed 3-1 (22-25, 25-20, 25-19, 25-19) to end Cherokee’s season and advance to Thursday’s 5:30 p.m. losers’ bracket final. At stake for Grainger is a berth in next week’s Region 1-AA tournament and another shot at top-seeded Volunteer for the District 2-AA title.
Cherokee gutted out the grueling opening set and had its opportunities in the second. Gillett was on fire early in the second set. Her powerful swing and a pair of service aces from Alea Clevinger helped pace the Lady Chiefs to a 9-3 lead. Each time Grainger answered, Cherokee responded and held the lead until the midway point. The teams traded point at 13, 14 and 15 before Grainger started finding its spots and took advantage of a couple of Cherokee miscues to forge ahead 20-15.
Again, Cherokee answered. Bradley picked up a kill and stepped in to serve. Gillett turned up the heat, picking up a block and a monster smash that pulled Cherokee back within one. Trailing 20-19, a net violation against the Lady Chiefs halted the momentum. Grainger eventually did enough to take the second set 25-20.
The Lady Grizzlies carried that momentum into the third set, jumping out to a 5-0 lead. This time, it was Bradley and sophomore Abby Shanks who took charge at the net for Cherokee. The Lady Chiefs battled back to tie it at 8-8 and again at 10-10. They stayed within striking distance but couldn’t get over the hump. A series of errant passes and hard Cherokee swings that landed out of bounds allowed Grainger to stay a few points ahead the rest of the way.
The final set went to the wire as well and was tied five times, the last time at 19-19 before Grainger’s Kolby Lucas finally sealed it with a match-point kill.
Seniors Campbell Owen and Gabi Catron also had solid outings for the Lady Chiefs, who’ll lose the four seniors to graduation. Junior setter Lauren Stidham gave the Cherokee hitters ample opportunities throughout the tournament.
The Gibbs Lady Eagles, the league’s No. 2 seed, had sent Cherokee into the losers’ bracket with a 3-0 win in Tuesday’s semifinal round at Volunteer. In that match, Cherokee couldn’t find an answer for Gibbs’ explosive Ella Brannan. She and teammates Jadyn Parker and Annie Buckner dominated the front line to send the Lady Eagles into Wednesday’s winners’ bracket final.
Cherokee, the No. 3 seed in the tournament, had earned a home opener in the tournament’s play-in games on Monday. But an unexpected water outage forced the Lady Chiefs to hit the road for the opening-round match with No. 6 seed Union County. Grainger, already playing at home against No. 5 seed Claiborne, agreed to host the second first-round match. Both Grainger and Cherokee won 3-0 to advance to the semifinals.
Cherokee beat Union County 25-12, 25-17, 25-16.
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