SEYMOUR – The Chuckey-Doak volleyball team set a new standard for the program on Thursday night as it took down Seymour on the road to advance to the state tournament for the first time in program history.
In the Class AA State Sectional contest the Lady Black Knights had to rally from behind in the first set, but then cruised to Murfreesboro with a 3-0 sweep of the Lady Eagles (27-25, 25-17, 25-14).
“We talked about it in the locker room before the game. These girls are setting the standard for Chuckey-Doak volleyball, they are putting their names in the record book. They are the first ever,” Chuckey-Doak coach Marissa Snapp said. “I am extremely thankful and feel extremely blessed right now. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to get to this point and I am just so happy right now.”
It had been 31 years since the Lady Knights were in position to advance to the state tournament, but facing elimination for the third time in nine days Chuckey-Doak rose to the occasion once again and took the team to a new height.
“It feels really good to be going to state, I’m really excited right now,” Chuckey-Doak senior Cristen Bishop said. “This is so big, to be able to do this as a senior and be the first group to do this means so much for us. None of us wanted it to be over tonight, we came out determined to win. We just had to treat it like playing in our last game wasn’t an option.”
Class AA State Tournament play will begin on Tuesday, October 21 and will be played at Rockvale High School in Murfreesboro.
“It feels amazing to be going to state. I’ve never felt like this before and there is no better feeling in the world,” Chuckey-Doak sophomore Jacey Taylor said. “We knew we could make it this point, we just had to grab it, and that’s what we did. Now we just have to keep our foot on the gas and keep the momentum going for as long as we can.”
Thursday’s action started a little shaky for the Lady Black Knights as they found themselves playing behind early, and it was more because of their own miscues than Seymour’s success.
Seymour held a 7-5 lead and only scored one attacking point in the early going.
Chuckey-Doak came back to even the score at 7-7 when Carlene Bishop put down a kill from the left side. Seymour then got its offense going and after Lilly Burdette slammed two from the left side and Abigail Prado landed a kill from the right side the Lady Eagles were in front 12-9.
Seymour’s lead grew to 18-14 when Prado got an ace to fall, and that led to Snapp calling a timeout. To that point Chuckey-Doak had given away six points on service errors.
The Lady Black Knights found new life coming out of the break and after two kills from Bishop and one from Jayden Myers things were tied at 20-20.
A block by Belle Karriker and a thundering slam from Jacey Taylor had Chuckey-Doak in front 24-22.
Seymour tied things again at 25-25, and then the game went into a long pause as the referees tried to sort out substitutions.
Coming out the break Taylor came up with a kill from the right side. Then she made a spectacular save up a free ball that was sailing out of bounds. That allowed Bishop to end it by pushing the ball down the net from left to right and into open spot on the floor.
After collecting the 27-25 win the Lady Knights rode the momentum the rest of the night and they never trailed again.
In the second set the Lady Black Knights quickly found themselves in front 8-3 after Taylor landed three kills including one from the back row.
On Thursday Taylor was the best player on the floor and when passes found her in the right spot the Lady Eagles often looked helpless as her swings crashed into the hardwood.
“Jacey was amazing! She had such a dominant court presence and when she is hitting those shots it shows the other girls where the open spots are. Her swinging like that opens things up for the rest of the front row. She was great tonight,” Snapp said.
Taylor continued to pace Chuckey-Doak’s attack with kills from the left side, right side and back row as the lead grew to 11-5.
The Lady Eagles were able to fight back and after Prado landed a kill the lead was down to 12-11.
That forced Snapp to call a timeout and out of it Chuckey-Doak scored three straight points. Bishop landed a pair of kills and Chloe Kirkpatrick beat the defense with an ace that made it 15-11.
In the closing stretch Addy Pruitt put down a kill from the right side, Taylor crushed one from the left, and when Pruitt sent over a serve Seymour could not send back the lead was 23-14.
After Seymour missed on its final two swings Chukcey-Doak claimed a 25-17 win and was in control at 2-0.
The third set was all Chuckey-Doak. The Lady Black Knights jumped in front 9-3 behind early blocks from Karriker and Taylor before Jayden Myers provided two kills from the middle.
On a play where the Lady Knights looked like they were trouble Pruitt lofted a free ball over her head from one end line and landed it on top of the other end line to stretch the lead to 13-5. Four errors by Seymour dug the hole too deep to come back from at 17-6.
A sneaky tip from Taylor and a good serve from Macy Church increased Chuckey-Doak’s lead to 19-6.
As the set crept to its end Seymour got kills from Prado, Grace McNally and Ayda Patterson, but that was not enough to really challenge the lead.
A smart push by Bishop broke the run at 24-14, and then Myers sent over a serve the Lady Eagles could not return to end the night in celebration.
