Cleveland's Addison Hurst (24) finds an opening in the Houston defense during a TSSAA Class 3A Volleyball Tournament match. The Lady Mustangs swept the Lady blue raiders, 3-0, to end Cleveland's season at 38-13.
photo by Dennis Norwood
MURFREESBORO — Cleveland volleyball coach Amy McGowan admitted that her team wasn't going to scare anyone when they walked on the court. Their game plan is to simply do whatever it takes to win the match.
That was on full display late Tuesday night, as the Lady Blue Raiders avoided elimination in the Class 3A volleyball championships with a thrilling five-set victory over Daniel Boone 25-17, 22-25, 24-26, 25-12, and 15-10.
Cleveland’s good fortune came to a halt at Murphy Center early Wednesday afternoon after the Houston Lady Mustangs advanced with the 3-0 win, the Lady Blue Raiders falling by scores of 25-22, 25-16 and 25-22.
“We're not going to win any beauty contests out there,” said McGowan following Tuesday’s big win.
“When we come out here we don't win in warm-ups and we don't win an eye test.
I tell the girls that when I played and we went to state it's because we were smarter. We have to put the ball where they're not; I don't care what it looks like. We really focus on strategic placement, reading the defense to see what's open, and talking to each other about what they see.”
Cleveland (38-12) jumped out quickly, taking an early 10-4 lead in the first set that brought a strong student section to a frenzy and forced Daniel Boone (29-8) to call timeout. The timeout did little to cool the Lady Raiders off, however, as they never allowed the Lady Blazers to get closer than four points on their way to an easy first-set victory.
Everything that had gone right for the Lady Raiders in the first set went wrong in the next two. Service errors, poor play at the net, and long rallies that all seemed to go Daniel Boone's way led to Cleveland dropping both sets by a combined five points and putting themselves a set away from elimination.
Cleveland responded. Up 10-8 midway through the fourth set, the Lady Raiders scored ten of the next 12 points, with the majority coming on the strong serve of Lilly Oliver. Two aces by the senior, sandwiched around a point off of a big kill by Joy Oliver, set up the fifth and deciding set.
Most teams facing the pressure of possible elimination become tight, but not Cleveland. Laughing and joking with each other in the huddle prior to the fifth set, the Lady Raiders showed no signs of nerves, something McGowan wasn't surprised by.
“That's how we play,” McGowan said. “If we can't get that momentum and play with that kind of looseness, then we're not very good like we weren't in the match earlier today.”
Playing loose and free, Cleveland jumped out to a commanding 10-2 lead, bringing the student section — many of the young men were now shirtless as the clock crept toward midnight local time — to a fevered pitch. Daniel Boone had one final run to close to within three points, but the Lady Raiders slammed the door on the comeback attempt to advance to day two.
“We have a lot of younger players, but we wouldn't be here without the leadership our seniors provide,” McGowan praised. “Nobody sees what they provide off the court, only what is done on the court. The culture that they've established is the reason why we're here.”
Cleveland showed a lot of grit and determination in Tuesday’s five-set win and they got off to a good start against Houston.
Perhaps the turning point was the first set when Cleveland led for most of the way before falling late. That loss seemed to take the wind out of Cleveland’s sails and they never recovered.
“Last night was a late night for us and I’m not making excuses, but Houston just scored more points than we did today,” McGowan said after her team’s season ended at 38-13.
“Our shots weren’t falling today like they normally do. It seems like we’ve lost the first set a bunch this year, but it’s always critical to win that one because it give you momentum to move forward.
“Winning a state championship is everyone’s goal and I’m sorry we didn’t do better, but we still had an outstanding season and accomplished every goal we had. We played hard today and I have no complaints about our effort, but Houston was just the better team,” McGowan concluded.