What should be an exciting volleyball season got started on Tuesday evening at Hal Henard Gymnasium with Chuckey-Doak, Greeneville, North Greene, South Greene and West Greene gathered for the Greene County Play Day.
The local teams played each other in a round-robin style exhibition with 25-minute games, and all five coaches felt like their teams got some valuable competitive reps ahead of the regular season which begins next week.
“You come to theses things to see what you need to work on, and we’ll get the most out of this tomorrow and Thursday and Friday in practice,” South Greene coach Stephen Gregg said. “It’s good for the girls to come out and play and get some nerves out. This is always a good event that gives us a chance to see everybody and play everybody early in the year. We saw a lot that we could work on, and now its up to them to take that coaching.”
Chuckey-Doak is coming off its best season in school history after advancing to the Class AA State Tournament for the first time and winning a game in Murfreesboro for the first time as well. The bulk of that squad is back, but in a tough District 1-AA returning to the state tournament is not guaranteed and coach Marissa Snapp knows her team will have to continue to work over the next three months.
“This group is coming together slowly but surely,” Snapp said. “We are still working on our team chemistry. We only lost three girls, but now we have some girls in new roles and we just have to figure those out. There is a lot more pressure on us now, but that is part of success. I’m proud that we get to learn how to handle that pressure.”
Among those returners for the Lady Knights is All-State outside hitter Jacey Taylor as well as hard-hitting middle Belle Karricker. Both made their presence felt on Tuesday and will be pivotal to Chuckey-Doak’s attack once again.
“Having that attack is big. It helps our defense because we are getting blocks and deflections. Then that slows down the ball and lets us get passes up to start the attack again. So having that kind of size is such a big advantage,” Snapp said.
The Lady Black Knights also bring back senior setter Chloe Kirkpatrick, libero Macy Church and junior hitter Jayden Myers who look to be important pieces in their 2026 run.
One team standing in the Lady Black Knights’ way of returning to the state tournament will be Greeneville. The Lady Devils finished in first place in district 1-AA during the regular season last year, but Chuckey-Doak and Sullivan East advanced to the regional and then state tournaments.
“This group is athletic, and experienced and super deep, but they need to stay disciplined,” Aiken said. “We have to bring that competitive spirit every night. They have to be hungry to win every touch. If we want to reach the places that we think we can reach, to beat the teams in our county and our district, we have to compete for every single touch.”
The Lady Greene Devils also bring back a veteran squad and Aiken is excited for what the group with plenty of starting experience can accomplish this season. Top outside hitter Leah Ford sat out Tuesday’s action, but Natalie Knight brought plenty of big swings. In the middle Gabby Atchison and Aubree Honeycut were back to protect the next. Allison Hayes was making precise passes, and Willow Aiken was running the backline.
“I think it super valuable to bring back a team with experience,” Aiken said. “Any time you can get younger girls touches during the season it will pay off in the future, and we are seeing that now. I try to have a forward-looking program and try to develop those young players. I think there were times tonight that you saw that experience pay off.”
At North Greene Tanna Stansfield has returned as the program’s head coach and the Lady Huskies are focused on making a deep playoff push this season.
“We start the season next week and tonight was good chance to see what we are up against,” Stansfield said. “I feel like I have a great team. This group has welcomed me and I’m really enjoying it. It’s been a few years since I’ve done this, but these girls have been working their tails off to get ready for the season and they have come a long way.”
The Lady Huskies bring back much of their starting lineup from a year ago and on Tuesday they spread the attack around the front line to Tralyn Southerland, Cadie McDevitt and Kinlea Eastep. Chloe Keys was delivering passes and Addi Dean was leading the back row from her libero spot.
“We have 15 girls on the roster and they all help us in some capacity,” Stansfield said.
South Greene has been to the state tournament in the last 17 consecutive season and this year coach Stephen Gregg’s squad looks like it can make another deep run and maybe make some noise in Murfreesboro. At the same time the coach knows that his team has work diligently to reach their potential.
“I see a lot of potential in this group, but we are playing a lot of young girls. We hope to represent Greene County well come October,” Gregg said. “We still need to improve by leaps and bounds, and it may take a while to correct some of things I saw tonight, but we’ll get to work on them.”
Leading the way for the Lady Rebels will be sophomore superstar Emma Padget who is one of the areas top attackers. She will be joined by senior Greeneville transfer Kinley McCaslin to potentially provide South Greene with a dangerous one-two punch on the outside.
Ella Bailey is back at libero, Ava Brobeck is back at setter and Jaelyn Fillers turned in a series of impressive serves on Tuesday.
West Greene advanced to the Class A state sectionals last year, but if they want to do it again this season the Lady Buffs are going to have to figure out how to replace some important pieces.
So far coach Raven Borie has liked what she has seen from her new group and how they are handling their new roles. Last year’s top hitter, Cassidy Hill, is gone, but on Tuesday a few Lady Buffaloes showed they are ready for more prominent attacking roles. First among those are Morgan Moody and Journey Lamons. Aleea Aiken, who has primarily been a setter, added to the attack on Tuesday. Senior Katelyn Begines brings some valuable experience back to the lineup, and senior Emma Gray has taken over the libero post.
The Lady Buffaloes started Tuesday with the most exciting match of the day as they climbed out of hole against Chuckey-Doak and eventually forced a 28-28 tie when the time limit was reached.
“This group has been so coachable. We have girls that are taking on new roles and they have been great about making those transitions,” Borie said. “I feel like this group has some great leaders. They don’t just want individual success, but they want this program to succeed. That gives us a lot to build on. I’m excited for this year.”
