The Ooltewah Lady Owls line up for introductions before a volleyball match at Soddy-Daisy High School on Sept. 2, 2014.LOCAL TSSAA VOLLEYBALL DISTRICT TOURNAMENTSFirst-round schedulesMonday• 5-A at Grace Academy: 6--Copper Basin vs. Arts & Sciences; 7--CGLA vs. Silverdale Baptist Academy• 6-A at Sale Creek: 4--Richard Hardy vs. Sale Creek; 5:30--South Pittsburg vs. Van Buren; 7--Whitwell vs. Marion County• 6-AA at Brown Middle: 6--Tyner vs. East Ridge; 7--Brainerd vs. Red Bank. At Central: 6--Howard vs. Central; 7--Tyner-East Ridge winner vs. Hixson• 5-AAA at Soddy-Daisy: 4:30--Bradley Central vs. Cleveland; 6--McMinn County vs. Walker Valley, 7:30--East Hamilton vs. Soddy-DaisyTuesday• 7-AA at Signal Mountain: 4--Sequatchie County vs. Notre Dame; 5--Bledsoe County vs. Grundy County; 6--Sequatchie-Notre Dame winner vs. Chattanooga Christian; 7--Bledsoe-Grundy winner vs. Signal Mountain
Either Ooltewah's Lady Owls love being a target on the volleyball court, or they've grown accustomed to it. Either way, they've embraced it.
Thirty-eight matches against District 5-AAA opponents have gone by since Ooltewah has lost to a league opponent. The Lady Owls will try to add two more to that list this week at Soddy-Daisy, where one of five TSSAA district tournaments will take place in Hamilton County.
Regular-season champion Ooltewah has a bye in the first round of its tournament, which begins Monday afternoon at 4:30 with fifth-seeded Bradley Central taking on fourth-seeded Cleveland. The Lady Owls get the winner of that match Tuesday at 5 p.m. The championship match is set for Wednesday night at 6.
Districts 6-A and 6-AA will conclude their tournaments Tuesday. Districts 5-A and 7-AA will hold their championship matches Thursday.
This marks the third consecutive season the Lady Owls have been the No. 1-seeded team for the district tournament. They were tri-champions along with Bradley and Soddy-Daisy in 2012, but were awarded the top spot by virtue of tiebreakers.
That year was also the last time Ooltewah lost to a district opponent. After Soddy-Daisy beat them in September that year, the Lady Owls won their remaining six regular-season district matches. They also swept through the tournament and, regardless of whether facing a district opponent in a district match or a regular-season or postseason tournament, the streak remains alive.
"The girls have worked really hard," Ooltewah coach Elaine Peigen said. "The bottom line is they've come motivated against everybody. They know they can't take anybody lightly."
Proof the Lady Owls haven't taken any district opponent lightly this year, there was no relenting in their game, even after they wrapped up the regular-season title a couple of weeks ago. Second-seeded Walker Valley, 8-4 in the league, was the only district team to take a set off of them.
"I like it," junior middle hitter and blocks leader Alex Biro said of the streak, "because that's our reputation. It's been super important to us to stay undefeated against the other district teams."
Peigen said her players have talked a little about the streak in the locker room but nothing she's felt a need to extinguish.
"They've stayed focused," Peigen said. "They come ready to play their best. I don't really have to say a lot."
Senior libero Josie Cain, overwhelmingly Ooltewah's digs leader, said she thinks the Lady Owls aren't just targeted by district opponents but by every team on their schedule. Still, they took a 39-6 record (12-0 5-AAA) into this weekend's tournament at Franklin, Tenn.
That marks their final regular-season preparation for postseason. Senior Courtlyn Ison, who leads the team in kills and is second in blocks, digs and aces, said before the trip there still remained things to fine tune.
"I think it's the little things," Ison said. "We have our plays and we know how we want everything to go. We have to play hard and play smart, but we do have unforced errors that we have to work on."
Serving has been a key component for Ooltewah, which had five players with at least 45 aces heading into the Franklin tournament, led by junior Summer Williams' 69. The offense runs through junior setter and assists leader Hanna Matthews.
District finalists move on to region play early next week. Region finalists advance to state sectionals, and those winners comprise the state-tournament field.
Should Ooltewah win its district tournament, it doesn't guarantee it will have seen the last of any conference opponent for the year. But regardless of opponent, the targeted Lady Owls say bring it on.
"Everybody wants to beat us," Matthews said. "I think that helps us out, knowing they want to beat you. We know we have to do everything on the court so that doesn't happen."
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/KelleySmiddie.