Webb’s Jordan Sandberg (2) returns a serve from Catholic during their game at Webb on Monday, August 27, 2018.
Webb School of Knoxville began defense of its Division II-A state volleyball title with a bang Tuesday morning.
The Lady Spartans (34-7) coasted past St. George’s (19-16) in three sets at Blackman High School in Murfreesboro, winning 25-10, 25-7, 25-9.
Webb’s rout started on the first point of the match when 6-foot-2 senior Pepperdine commitment Kayleigh Hames drilled St. George’s libero in the face with a kill and knocked her to the floor.
“(The libero) came back,” said Webb coach Chris Hames, Kayleigh’s mom. “She was lying on the ground there for a couple of seconds and scratching her head after the game.”
After the match, Webb’s players and coaches watched only the first set as Harding Academy (30-11) rallied to beat Concord Christian School, 8-25, 25-21, 28-26, 25-20, in the second Division II-A match.
Webb, which has won five consecutive Division II-A state titles, advances to Wednesday’s 11 a.m. ET winners-bracket final of the four-team format against Harding Academy. Division II-A matches Wednesday are at Siegel High.
“I’m pretty excited,” Kayleigh Hames said. “I feel like we’ll play really good (Wednesday). We play Harding all the time at state and they’re kind of our rival at state. It will be fun.”
All championship matches are Thursday at Middle Tennessee State University’s Murphy Center.
Concord Christian (35-11) kept its season alive with a 25-21, 25-22, 25-21 win over St. George’s later Tuesday. The Lady Lions play the Webb-Harding Academy loser at 2 p.m. ET Wednesday.
Catholic’s Olivia Cunningham (4) spikes the ball as Webb defends during their game at Webb on Monday, August 27, 2018.
Catholic, Class AA state runner-up last year and 2016 state champion, posted a 25-16, 25-12, 25-15 victory over Jackson South Side in the opening round of the eight-team Class AA state tournament Tuesday at Middle Tennessee State University.
The Lady Irish (25-8) defeated East Hamilton, 31-29, 25-21, 27-25, in their second match Tuesday night – setting up a rematch of the 2017 state final against Portland (42-7) in Wednesday’s winners bracket at 2 p.m. ET at MTSU.
Last year, Catholic defeated Portland in the same match, but Portland came out of the losers’ bracket and beat the Lady Irish in four sets, 25-23 in the fourth, for the state championship.
Heritage made its first appearance in program history Tuesday afternoon and lost to Siegel High – which was playing on its home court – in five sets, 25-21, 21-25, 20-25, 25-16, 15-7.
Heritage got entangled in another five-set match against Collierville in the final game of the night, with play finally ending at 12:05 a.m. Central time. Heritage won the first two sets and had a 10-point advantage in the third set and seven-point lead in the fourth set but couldn’t close out the match. The Lady Mountaineers finally did that in the fifth — 25-21, 25-18, 21-25, 23-25, 15-11.
Heritage (30-7) advanced to play Houston at 12:30 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday. Heritage will need to win three matches Wednesday to reach the Class AAA state title match Thursday.
Gatlinburg-Pittman lost its first state volleyball match in program history Tuesday morning at MTSU. The Lady Highlanders fell into the Class A losers’ bracket with a 25-14, 26-24, 25-22 loss to Watertown in a quarterfinal match.
G-P rallied in the evening, though, and defeated Halls of West Tennessee in a losers-bracket match 25-19, 25-8, 25-12.
Hames, Webb’s only senior, set the tempo for Tuesday morning’s match with her kill on the first point.
“The pass was kind of off and our setter chunked it out to me,” she said. “I just swung away and hit her in the face, kind of setting the mood for the game.”
Hames finished with 18 kills, one ace, and seven digs.
Junior Leoni Kunz had 12 kills and junior Bailey Musrock posted seven kills, nine digs, and six blocks.
“(St. George’s) had some good players,” Chris Hames said. “We just served really well. We have our offense that’s good enough that we’re getting good swings. It’s interesting. They had one really bad rotation and they got stuck in it every set, and we probably rattled off 10 or so points in that one rotation.”
It was evident in the first set when Webb trailed 7-8 and reeled off 13 consecutive points against that St. George’s rotation.
“If we can control our side, we pass well and we’re a tough team,” Chris Hames said. “We have multiple hitters and with Kayleigh we can set back row, front row.”
Concord Christian lost a see-saw match in Tuesday morning’s loss to Harding Academy.
After the teams split the first two sets, Concord Christian trailed 17-11 in the third before rallying to tie 22-22, only to lose it. The Lady Lions led Harding 17-13 in the fourth set before losing the lead for good at 19-18.
“It puts your back against the wall and you just have to come out fighting,” Concord Christian coach Carmen Hochevar said of losing the opener. “We knew that we were a solid team all the way around. It was just a matter of staying with the flow till the end.”
Concord Christian features 6-0 senior outside hitter Sidney Sherrill, an East Tennessee State University commitment, but freshmen Annabelle Sulish and libero Karson Brock played big roles Tuesday along with sophomore Mikayla Profeta and senior Elizabeth Dawson.
“Annabelle Sulish is just the one that we go to,” Hochevar said. “She’s our go-to girl on the front line, but tonight we saw Mikayla Profeta do well, and Carson Brock in the back row, she’s all over the place.”
Hochevar wants to ride the momentum of the St. George’s win into Wednesday.
“Doing it in three was a statement that we’re not done,” she said. “I really believe if we have the chance again with Harding, we will do better now that we know we’ve got to get after it and stay with them.”