MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — The East Hamilton volleyball season came to a slow and agonizing end as the Lady Hurricanes fell to Brentwood, 3-1, in a Thursday elimination round match at Siegel High School.
East Hamilton cruised to a relatively ease win in the first set defeating the Lady Bruins 25-20. But, it was Brentwood winning the day and advancing in the elimination bracket with three consecutive wins by identical scores of 25-23.
“When we talk about why we coach, why we play we talk about how it's about life in a safe environment. Our players can learn how to overcome obstacles, how to face challenges. It's painful watching them learn life lessons through it. I believe as a coach we never fail, we win. We never lose, we win or we learn. Today was, hopefully, a good learning experience,” said a philosophical Lady Hurricanes head coach Antonela Tomic. “It's hard seeing players being emotional like this. They are 16-, 17- and 18-years old. They hd to hear from me in the third set when we were down that we didn't have time for our feelings. We didn't have time to grieve, we did not have time to share feelings. We will do that after the game. That was a time to compete and really finish the game and see what they can do. We did that. We did that in the last set.
The Lady 'Canes opened the day with kills by Camryn Daniels and Georgia Dobson to open a 5-1 lead over the Bruins. Dobson later followed with an ace while Savannah Hughes came through with a block to go with kills by Saylor Clark and Julia Culpepper to make it 14-5. Brentwood rallied back with 10 straight points to catch and pass the Hurricanes to lead 15-14. East Hamilton battled back to tie the score three times before breaking a 17-17 score with a Daniels block and Hana Suzuki ace to move out front 20-17. Dobson's kill and block helped the 'Canes to a 23-19 advantage. Dobson ended the set with a final kill and a game winning ace in the 25-20 victory.
Daniels, Camryn, Tristin Sutton and Dobson scored kills for East Hamilton in the second set while Culpepper recorded an ace as the Hurricanes put up a score of 11-6. From there the Bruins heated up to pull out front 18-16 then reeled off three more points to go up 21-17. The Lady 'Canes fought back to close the gap to 21-20. The Bruins held the Hurricanes scoreless the rest of the way to earn the set win.
An ace and kills from Dobson, Hughes and Daniels helped East Hamilton to an early 6-2 lead in set three. A kill and an ace by Culpepper sparked a 9-4 Hurricanes run that made it 16-9 and another ace by Culpepper made it 22-13. The 'Canes could only manage one more point as Brentwood closed out the set with a 12-1 spree to seal the set win.
“I was disappointed in the third set. It's a state tournament,” said Tomic. “I still think we need to keep learning, to perform and to play the same no matter what the competition, no matter what the environment is. It's not easy.”
With the exception of a 4-4 tie, the The Bruins led the entire fourth set. Brentwood built a 12-7 advantage and opened the lead to 18-11. The Hurricanes closed it to a single digit lead three times in the late stages, but with The Bruins holding a 24-23 lead, a service error put the match in the hands of Brentwood.
“It's been a great season. This is our first year competing in 3A. This is my fourth year at East Hamilton and this is a different level. For us the goal never changes. We do have a resolve to reach our goal and that is a state championship. But, we have so many goals that honestly have nothing to do with volleyball,” Tomic stated. “We talk about preserving the culture of our program. We have kids who enjoy and have a love of the game and are at a safe place to share that experience with others. I believe we have created that. We also have created an environment where they can learn how to work together, how to become better teammates, how to become better humans. That's a comfort to me when I reflect on our whole season and the tournament. I'm proud of my coaching staff.”
“I'm proud of our whole community where we have a program like ours in a world where teenagers feel so much pressure,” she continued. “They have volleyball and they can feel the joy. This was very stressful environment. It's like teaching your kids. You need to see them fail before they succeed. That's ging to happen to us next year.”