MURFREESBORO – The South Greene volleyball team’s run to a state championship came to an end on Tuesday evening in the opening round of the Class A State Tournament at Rockvale High School.
The Lady Rebels fell to Summertown 3-0, 25-14, 25-18, 25-23.
“I’m disappointed for the girls’ sake. They didn’t come out and give it their best effort,” South Greene coach Stephen Gregg said. “We knew we had to play a pretty flawless game against a good team. But I was disappointed they didn’t get to see our best tonight.”
South Greene’s time in Murfreesboro is not done, but the goal changes. The Lady Rebels will be back in action on Wednesday against Bledsoe County at 5 PM at Rockvale in the third-place bracket. Bledsoe County lost to Merrol Hyde 3-0 on Tuesday.
“We have to remember being aggressive is what got us here. You can’t get here and start playing soft. There were some jitters tonight, especially in crunch-time moments that we can’t have,” Gregg said. “We want to put a better product on the court tomorrow. We have a chance to end the season with a win. That’s the goal, to win the rest of our games here.”
It was a sluggish start that put South Greene in hole early in the first set on Tuesday. On the other side Summertown’s block was active and the Lady Eagles built a 6-1 lead behind two blocks from Elizabeth Garland and one from Lena Brown.
South Greene got kills from each end of the net from Emma Padgett and then she put down an ace to close the gap to 8-4.
Summertown answered with two kills from Garland and one from El-lee Lu Mason to push the lead back to 14-8
Errors then began to prove costly and six of them in the closing stretch paired with two more kills from Garland led to a 25-14 Summertown win.
The second set started with three more South Greene errors as it fell behind 5-1.
Padgett got South Greene started with a kill and another slam from Kinley McCaslin closed the gap to 7-5, but the Lady Rebels next serve sailed long.
Summertown stretched its lead to 13-6 after Garland and Brown landed back-to-back kills.
A slam from McCaslin and a tip from Padgett cut that lead to 13-10. Kills from Padgett made it a three-point game twice more, but the Lady Rebels could not get any closer.
Summertown finished out the 25-18 win with three kills from Macy Pettus and one each from Garland and Brown. Padgett landed two more slams for South Greene while McCaslin had one and Jaelyn Fillers put down an ace.
In the third set South Greene took the lead at 5-4 on a swat from Riley Southerland. Good serves from Haylee Bird allowed that lead to grow to 7-5.
Summertown regained the lead at 8-7, but then Padgett went on a tear from the left post. She hammered five kills in a six-point stretch, firing one down the line, two off the block and smashing two into the middle of the court.
After McCaslin got a free ball to roll over the net and Padgett put down an ace South Greene led 16-10.
McCaslin fired off three kills and the Lady Rebels looked like they might stay alive with a 20-15 lead.
Instead, two net violations, an errant tip and watched ball that landed on the line allowed Summertown to flip the lead to 21-20.
Padgett got two more big swings to hit the court as the gap closed to 24-23. Summertown’s Ava Cornelius ended the 25-23 win with a left-side slam.
“We got up 16-10, and then got outscored 14-7 to the finish. You want to see them fight there and force it to four or five. We have to do better finishing out sets,” Gregg said.
Summertown moves on to the state semifinals against Merrol Hyde on Wednesday.
In the other semifinals Chattanooga School for the Liberal Arts beat Middleton 3-0, and Eagleville beat Halls 3-0.
Four other Northeast Tennessee Schools competed in the state tournament on Tuesday. In Class AAA Science Hill beat Summit 3-2 and Franklin beat Dobyns-Bennett 3-0. In Class AA Upperman beat Elizabethton 3-0, and Hume Fogg beat Sullivan East 3-0.
