The Chuckey-Doak volleyball team had to dig out of a hole on Tuesday night, but in doing so it was able to pick up its first two wins of the year in a tri-match with North Greene and Washburn in Baileyton.
The Lady Black Knights’ day started with a 2-0 sweep of Washburn (25-12, 24-14) and then got past North Greene 2-1 (19-25, 25-21, 15-13). In the first match of the day North Greene beat Washburn 2-0 (25-8, 25-15).
“The girls brought energy tonight. This gym can get quiet, and you have to pick yourself up and create your own energy,” Chuckey-Doak coach Marissa Snapp said. “North Greene took advantage early but we had a little bit of a come-to-Jesus meeting in a timeout, and we brought it coming out of that. Our hitters had to step up and work around the defense. Our setters had to handle a lot coming at them, and my libero did a great job. Today was nice pick-me-up, and we’re ready to get the season going.”
The whole match with the Lady Huskies was nip-and tuck. That was most true in the decisive third set where neither team led by more than three points, and 18 of the game’s 28 serves went over the net with a margin of one point or less.
North Greene gained the first advantage at 4-1 after two aces by Kaydence Marshall, but Harlee Richardson got Chuckey-Doak going with a tip before two Lady Huskies errors tied things at 4-4.
Chuckey-Doak went in front at 9-6 after Jacey Taylor found a hole in the defense on a kill from the back row and Richardson landed a kill from the left side.
North Greene’s Kallie Dobson tied the game at 9-9 with a key block. From there the set was tied three more times, the final coming at 13-13 when Josie Graham pushed a ball deep to the back line for North Greene.
On the next played Carlene Bishop smacked a kill off of the block and Taylor finished Chuckey-Doak’s 15-13 win by sending an ace over the net.
“These girls kept fighting. They stayed up even after losing the first set, and I couldn’t be more proud of that,” Snapp said. “I feel like the positivity is key. Volleyball is such a mental game, you score because somebody else screwed up. So, picking each other up is so important, and being good teammates made the difference today.”
In the first set North Greene found the first separation at 6-3 after Loren Blevins put down a kill and then Hannah Miller landed two serves. Chuckey-Doak came back and tied things at 7-7 on an ace by Richardson.
The set was tied three more times before North Greene got a block from Miller and a kill from Graham to make it 13-10.
Chuckey-Doak got consecutive kills from Taylor and Kendra Key to narrow the gap to 15-14, but the Lady Knights would not get any closer.
In the closing stretch Miller scored on a kill and an ace. Marshall snuck a pair of tips past the Lady Knights while Blevins and Graham each had kills on the way to a 25-19 win.
In the third set North Greene jumped out to a 5-1 lead with Marshall serving, but three straight errors brought Chuckey-Doak back into the set. With Isabelle Karicker serving the Lady Knights took their first lead at 7-6.
That lead grew to 9-7 when Addy Pruitt put down a kill from the right side, and then to 13-10 when Taylor sent a laser down the left boundary.
North Greene regained the lead at 15-14 when Blevins rolled a swing down the net, but Chuckey-Doak took it back when Pruitt dumped a second hit around the Lady Huskies.
The set finished with Macy Cox scoring on a first-hit kill before Karicker ended the 25-21 win by hammering a kill from the middle.
On the day Chuckey-Doak kept the defense guessing, attacking from all around the formation and getting kills from seven different players.
“It was huge to spread the ball around,” Snapp said. “To be able to run that whole front row, whether it was the three girls that start or the three that rotate in, being able to give the ball to any of them was great. And having that back row kill on some of those crazy passes is huge.”
The day started with North Greene making easy work of Washburn on the way to a 2-0 win.
The first set started with the Lady Huskies taking a 9-2 lead. In that stretch Marshall had two aces while Matti Phillips had two kills.
The lead reached 15-5 on tip by Miller and then Miller landed a kill to make it 16-6. The set 25-8 finished with Blevins putting down a pair of kills while Phillips scored on a kill and a pair of tips.
The second set started with Miller scoring on a block, kill and ace while Phillips put down two kills on the way to a 7-2 advantage.
Washburn was able to close the gap to 9-8 and took advantage of North Greene errors to hang around at 13-11. Then North Greene got going again and Phillips finished out the set with three more kills as North Greene took a 25-15 win.
Up next Chuckey-Doak claimed its first win of the young season by defeating Washburn 2-0.
With Taylor serving Chuckey-Doak scored the eight straight points on the way to an 8-1 lead in the first set. Bishop got three kills to fall in that stretch.
After that the teams traded points and errors, but after Madison Shelton came up with a kill Chuckey-Doak led 16-7. Key put down a kill to make it 20-9 before Chuckey-Doak earned a 25-12 win.
In the second set Key smacked down four kills on the way to an 8-2 lead.
A tip and two kills by Shelton moved Chuckey-Doak’s lead to 15-5. Two aces by Cristen Bishop pushed the advantage to 20-6 before the Lady Knights finished with a 25-14 win.
