The Chuckey-Doak volleyball team saw its season come to an end in heartbreaking fashion on Wednesday in the District 1-AA Tournament with a 3-2 loss to Elizabethton.
In the losers’ bracket finals the Lady Black Knights fell 28-26, 22-25, 25-18, 13-25, 16-14.
“To say that I’m proud of them is an understatement,” Chuckey-Doak coach Marissa Snapp said. “I don’t know of many teams that could play back to back games for four and half hours and fight the way that they did. It shows how bad they wanted it. They were out there playing for each other.”
The Lady Black Knights found themselves in a hole early on Wednesday after letting a seven-point lead slip away in an opening set loss.
The Lady Black Knights looked to be cruising to a win after Jacey Taylor put down a pair of kills and Jessie Dayton dropped an ace on the backline to make it 22-15.
The Lady Knights made it 24-18 before a slam from Mahala Nave got the serve back for Elizabethton. Sydney Minton stepped to the service line and swung the momentum in the Lady Cyclones’ favor, putting her team in front 25-24 before Taylor broke the streak with a tip.
Elizabethton’s back row was tough to beat all night and they kept sending Chuckey-Doak’s hits back over the net. The set ended on three consecutive swing errors by Chuckey-Doak as Elizabethton collected the 28-26 win.
Chuckey-Doak did not let the slipup keep it down and it fought back to take the second set and even the score at 1-1.
“It took a lot of mental toughness to come back after the first set,” Snapp said. “We had quite a few that were physically hurting, and they just couldn’t move how they wanted to in the first set. But they took their mentality to the next level. We knew how good Elizabethton’s back row was, and we had to play tough. It was just effort to push this to the end.”
The second set went back and forth to the finish with 14 ties. Chuckey-Doak’s first lead came at 16-15 after consecutive errors by Elizabethton, but the advantage was short lived.
Chuckey-Doak regained the lead at 22-21 on a missed second hit by the Lady Cyclones. The Lady Knights scored consecutive points for the first time when Isabelle Karriker tipped one around the block and then slammed one from the left side. That made it 24-22 before Elizabethton could not keep a kill inbounds in the 25-22 Chuckey-Doak win.
Fortune shifted in the third set and Elizabethton took a quick 5-1 lead after Maddie Moore came up with a block and Kaylin Brittain killed one from the right side.
Chuckey-Doak closed the gap to 6-5 on an ace by Dayton, but then Libby Tipton killed two for Elizabethton.
The Lady Cyclones’ lead grew to 23-12, but Chuckey-Doak never stopped fighting. With Dayton serving the gap closed to 24-18 after Karriker scored on a kill and a block and Taylor put down a kill.
Brittain ended the run with a kill and finished the 25-18 win.
Chuckey-Doak was not going to go down easy and dominated the fourth set. That started by jumping in front 8-3 behind kills from Kallie Dobson, Jayden Myers and Karriker.
The lead kept growing and after Dobson landed consecutive swings from the right side the advantage was 16-7.
Myers came up with two kills from the middle and Karriker hammered one from the left side as the lead grew to 20-9.
Dayton made it 23-10 on an ace and Taylor wrapped up the 25-13 win by pushing a ball to the back line.
Elizabethton scored the first five points of the fifth set, but Chuckey-Doak regrouped with kills from Karriker and Hayleigh Seidl and an ace from Myers to make it 5-5.
The teams traded points until Chuckey-Doak took an 11-10 lead on a block by Myers.
Taylor used a left-side slam to make it 13-11, and a missed swing by Elizabethton had Chuckey-Doak within one point of extending its season at 14-12.
Instead, Elizabethton’s defense made landing swings tough and eventually two Lady Knights’ attempts missed the mark. That allowed Elizabethton to go in front before Nave ended the 16-14 win with a slam from the left side.
Elizabethton advances to play Sullivan East on Thursday in the District 1-AA championship game.
For three Lady Knights, Karriker, Chloe Kirkpatrick, and Macy Church it was their last game at Chuckey-Doak. Snapp was quick to say how proud she was of the group for growing the program and being the first group she has coached for four years.
“I’ve been with those girls start to finish. I cherish them and they have changed my life. I don’t have the words to explain what they have meant to this program. There is really something special about those three,” Snapp said.
Taylor finished the game with 20 kills and 32 digs. Karriker had 19 kills and four blocks. Kirkpatrick had 43 assists and 27 digs. Church had 42 digs. Myers had 10 digs, eight kills and four aces. Hayden Kenney had 17 digs and Dayton had six aces.
CHUCKEY-DOAK 3, GREENEVILLE 0
Chuckey-Doak started Wednesday with a 3-0 win over Greeneville in an elimination game, 25-20, 25-23, 30-28.
Myers started the first set with a powerful slam from the middle and Chuckey-Doak stayed in front early. Myers blocked two in a row and the lead grew to 11-6.
A left-side kill by Greeneville’s Katie Johnson cut the lead down to 14-13.
A back-row kill from Taylor put Chuckey-Doak on top 18-14, but Riley Ireland immediately followed with a pair of slams for the Lady Devils.
Chuckey-Doak found some breathing room when Kirkpatrick found the defense on the ground and dumped one to open space. Taylor landed two more kills and Kirpatrick ended the 25-20 win with an ace.
In the second set Chuckey-Doak gained a 10-6 lead after a kill and a tip by Karriker.
Greeneville errors along with a kill and an ace from Myers allowed the Lady Black Knights to a take a 17-10 lead.
A thunderous slam by Taylor made it 22-14, but Greeneville closed strong. Allison Hayes started things with an ace before Johnson and Gabby Atchison followed with kills.
Leah Ford bounced one off the block to cut the lead to 24-23, but Dobson landed a swing from the right side to give Chuckey-Doak the 25-23 win.
Greeneville started the second set by taking a 6-2 lead behind kills from Johnson and Natalie Knight.
Chuckey-Doak came back and tied things at 6-6 on a slam from Taylor, and the set stayed tight the rest of the way.
An error by Greeneville gave Chuckey-Doak its first lead at 17-16. Greeneville went back in front at 21-20 when the Lady Knights missed a swing.
Taylor and Johnson traded kills on the way to a 24-24 tie. Greeneville moved in front at 26-25 on a block by Aubree Honeycutt.
The set was then tied three more times before Myers ended the 30-28 win with a block.
Taylor finished the set with 16 kills and 24 digs. Karriker had 11 kills. Kirkpatrick had 29 assists and 22 digs.
