GRAY – The West Ridge volleyball team may have come of age in Thursday’s rally to beat Daniel Boone.
Trailing by a set and down 19-14 in the fourth, the Lady Wolves forced and dominated a fifth set to earn the 26-28, 25-20, 20-25, 27-25, 15-8 win over the Lady Blazers inside Bobby Snyder Gymnasium.
It was the first Big East Conference victory of the season for a West Ridge program that’s been to the last two state tournaments and made the sectional round in all three years of its existence.
The Lady Wolves had set point in the opening frame at 26-25 only to seen Boone score three straight to win the first.
“On the road, conference match, haven’t won one yet,” said West Ridge coach Logan Kemp. “We start out 28-26 in the first set and we know it’s going to be a battle. Being able to bound back from that shows a lot of growth.”
West Ridge led wire-to-wire to even the match in the second. Boone broke free from a slim 5-4 lead with 7-1 spurt to take control of the third. Taylor Brinn’s kill on perfectly placedd cross court set from Addison Dietz and two Brinn hammers gave the Lady ‘Blazers a 12-5 advantage.
The Lady Wolves would creep back within three but an Ashlyn Seymore block and Dietz winner pushed the margin back to five.
Not only did Boone lead by five in the fourth, the Lady ‘Blazers had two match points after a Seymore kill made it 24-22. That’s when Ailyn Ballard really came to life for West Ridge, recording three kills around another Seymore block to push the Lady Wolves into the lead.
Ballard finished the night with eight kills, one of five West Ridge hitters on the night to do so and one of six with at least six kills.
Isabelle Brickey and Kami Clark led the way with 11 apiece while Kaiya Sigaty finished with ten, Hennesey Long Jaw eight and Allie Reilly six courtesy of 22 assists each from Aubrey Killen and Remi Smith.
“Ailyn struggled early, but found her way,” noted Kemp. “Isabelle did a great job, Kami did a great job and our setters did a great job moving the ball around.”
A Ballard block gave West Ridge a quick 3-1 lead in the fifth. A Brickey winner pushed the lead to three and after the Lady Wolves briefly got within one at 7-6, another Brickey kill started an 8-2 stretch to close out the match.
“I told them in that fourth set that tonight was a night they were able to grow up,” continued Kemp. “I think they saw that anything is possible.”
Match point was emblematic of the West Ridge effort on the night as Rachel Niebruegge’s diving dig was turned into a Sigaty killer.
Niebruegge finished with 26 digs, one of five Lady Wolves to notch double-digits.
“Defensively, we did a great job of getting those hustle plays up,” noted Kemp.
Brickey came up with 16 digs, Killen had 14, Ella Coates 13 and Sigaty contributed 12.
“Tough loss, but give West Ridge credit, they were relentless,” said Boone coach Chelsea Baker. “There were a lot of balls that we thought were going down that would bounce off the rafters and they would get it back over.”
Dietz finished just short of a triple double for Boone with 40 assists, 21 digs and nine kills. Brinn led the way with 19 kills while Seymour finished with 17. The remainder of the Lady ‘Blazers managed to add just eight.
“I feel like we have been a fighting team all season and I’ve never felt like we were going to lose a match. Tonight I never had that feeling,” added Baker. “We seemed emotionally drained. I don’t know if we are tired but we just never found the energy to grab and keep the momentum.”
Ella Byrd led the defense with 26 kills with Katie Sparks notching 17 and Haven Barney 13. Mallory Carpenter had seven blocks at the net with Brinn and Seymore recording four apiece and Ashlyn Newton three.
Baker also lauded the effort of senior Macie Scott.
“Macie has not seen a lot of floor time,” Baker explained. “But credit her for being a good team player and cheering on her team. I have thrown her in during some really stressful and intense moments and she has handled that with so much grace. Tonight we were struggling on the outside and I threw her in and she got a kill immediately. You need good team players to be on your team and she’s a good team player.”
Both West Ridge and Daniel Boone will participate in the Rocky Top Classic this weekend in the Sevierville area.
