MURFREESBORO – The South Greene volleyball team cleared its first hurdle at the Class A State Tournament on Tuesday afternoon, beating Union City 3-0 (25-23, 25-20, 25-10) to advance to the winners’ bracket semifinals in its 16th consecutive trip to Murfreesboro.
“It’s big to get this one today because it guarantees we make it to Thursday,” Gregg said. “We own our own destiny still. It’s good to get this first one over with, and do it without expending too much energy. A sweep is always good down here. We showed some nerves early. We just have to work on getting this one behind us and rechanneling that energy. But I felt like we got better as the game went on.”
Nerves showed early in the first set at Blackman High School and the Lady Rebels found themselves six-point hole. They managed to count on their veteran leaders to pull out of it and started the day with a win.
Union City gained the lead at 5-4 when Crickett Washburn landed an ace. Another ace by Washburn pushed that lead to 7-4. South Greene’s back line stayed discombobulated and Brianna McBride scored on a deep push before two aces by Gracelyn Simms put down a pair of aces for a 13-7 lead.
South Greene began to chip away at that deficit and when Davanie Tarlton hammered a kill from the middle things were tied at 16-16.
Bailey Ricker followed with an ace and then Tarlton came up with another slam for an 18-16 lead.
The Lady Tornadoes tied things at 20-20 when Simms came up with a block. Tarlton gave the lead back to South Greene with a push from the middle that landed on the right side stripe.
Baylee Jenning took it to 24-22 with a kill and she followed by banging a ball off the block of Allysia Davis for the 25-23 win.
South Greene used a brand new formation on Tuesday, playing Jennings opposite of Tarlton, and Gregg came away pleased with the results.
“We changed some things up today,” Gregg said. “We haven’t dropped a set in the postseason, but down here you need middles that can put the ball up. So we put Jennings to the opposite of Davanie, something we haven’t done all year. Down here I want the ball in our senior’s hands. That moved things around on the back line, and we had to make changes throughout the game.”
In the second set South Greene settled in and jumped out to a 10-2 lead. Tarlton scored on two kills and two blocks in the opening run.
Keasley Hankins then put together a six-serve run in which Union City gave away three points on errors as South Greene’s lead grew to 18-6. Jennings scored on a push deep to the back line that kept South Greene on top 21-12.
Simms kept Union City in the mix and after two blocks and a kill the gap closed to 24-18. Two more errors by South Greene followed and Gregg was forced to call a timeout up 24-20.
Jennings finished the set by pushing a ball down the net from left to right and away from the defense.
“I think we just settled our nerves and got into the flow of the game in that second set,” Gregg said. “We just to put that first one behind us. A sloppy win is still a win. They started much better in the next set, and that’s what you want to see.”
The third set was all South Greene and once again the Lady Rebels jumped out to a 5-1 lead. With Ricker serving Tarlton planted two kills into the hardwood.
The team’s traded points to 8-4, and then Addison Compton stepped to the service line for South Greene. She sent over 10 straight serves and dropped in four aces in the run. Tarlton added three more kills as South Greene’s lead grew to 18-4.
“Addison has the capability of doing that. Not only is she a great setter, but she is one of the best servers I’ve ever had,” Gregg said. “Hopefully this gives her some confidence and she keeps swinging with that top spin. They were having a lot of trouble with that.”
Union City could not close the gap and South Greene stayed in front to a 25-10 win.
Gregg is hopeful that the positive momentum from Tuesday’s finish can carry over into Wednesday when the Lady Rebels take on Loretto at 12 p.m. Central Time. Loretto swept Chattanooga School for Arts Science in its first-round match on Tuesday.
“Moving forward we have to be a team on a mission,” Gregg said. “We can’t lose the mental edge. It was good to see us finish strong today, but I told the girls we need that third-set performance every set for the rest of the tournament. Our net opponent is going to be tougher, and each game is going to be more pressure packed.”
In the other first-round games defending state champion Sale Creek beat Gibson County 3-0, and Summertown beat East Robertson 3-1.
