Volleyball district races clearing up

photo Sale Creek High School volleyball coach Debbie Hill directs her players during a recent game. Hill is starting her 31st year of teaching.

Two weeks remain in the regular season for TSSAA Division I volleyball teams. Some area districts are close to crowning their regular-season champions, but others look like they won't be decided until nearly tournament time Oct. 10.

One close to being decided is District 6-AA. Red Bank and East Ridge are both undefeated in the district, but the big difference is the Lady Lions have played six of their seven league matches while the Lady Pioneers have played three.

The only way Red Bank would not be the No. 1-seeded team for the district tournament would be if East Ridge wins out, including when it hosts the Lady Lions on Oct. 4. Red Bank has clinched at least a tie for the regular-season championship.

Soddy-Daisy is 9-0 in District 6-AAA and could finish second only if it loses all three of its remaining district matches. The Lady Trojans, whose next match is at home Wednesday against district member Walker Valley, can clinch the regular-season title by defeating one more district opponent.

Sale Creek sits atop the District 6-A standings at 4-0. The Lady Panthers need one more district victory to wrap up the No. 1 seeding for the tournament and could get that tonight when they host Van Buren County at 6:30.

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Two other area districts are a little more cluttered at the top, including 7-AA. Signal Mountain and Notre Dame lead but have one loss each. Signal Mountain gave the Lady Irish theirs.

This afternoon at 5:30 the Lady Eagles host Chattanooga Christian, which handed them their district loss Aug. 30. The Notre Dame-Signal Mountain rematch has been moved to Oct. 4 at Notre Dame at 4:30 p.m.

"Both of those matches are huge if we want to win the district regular season," Signal Mountain coach Jennifer Redman said. "We've won our district the last few years in a row. Even though we've moved up a classification, that's still our goal.

"We need to make a stand [today], and I know Notre Dame wants to beat us. We're going to have to bring our best volleyball."

Silverdale Baptist leads District 5-A at 4-0 but has four league matches remaining. If the Lady Seahawks and defending champion Boyd-Buchanan take care of business between now and then, the title and top seeding for the tournament could be decided Oct. 4 on the Lady Bucs' senior night.

"It's going to be a good one," said Silverdale coach Rhonda Hawkins, whose team won last Tuesday in the first meeting. "We had a great atmosphere when we hosted them. We're going to try to get some of our fans over there as well. We'll be needing all the help we can get."

Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653.

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