Lady Bucs try again for state volleyball title

Boyd-Buchanan players huddle up during their Region 3-A high school volleyball championship match against Grace Academy. Wednesday morning they will be huddling in Murfreesboro at the Class A state tournament.

Boyd-Buchanan player Kristen Reynolds sets the ball during a September match against Grace Academy. She gets another shot Wednesday against Loretto, which put the Lady Bucs out of last year's state tournament.

Boyd-Buchanan's Kristen Reynolds has a vivid memory of how the Lady Buccaneers' 2013 volleyball season came to a crashing halt. They were in the Class A state tournament, playing Loretto in the fifth and deciding set.

"The last point I hit, it straight into the net," Reynolds said. "It almost went under the net."

And how long after was it before she had a good night's sleep?

"Like a month," she said.

Boyd-Buchanan (32-14) has worked its way back to the state tournament, and, as fate would have it, Loretto is the Lady Bucs' first-round opponent. They will face off in the opening match in Class A at 10:30 a.m. EDT Wednesday at Blackman High School.

The Lady Bucs have won eight successive District 5 titles and six of the last eight Region 3 championships. This is their seventh trip to the state tournament in that span.

First-year coach Alfie Dodd assessed his first day on the job this way: "I saw that I had state-tournament players. I didn't know we'd have a state-tournament team at that point. I didn't know how they would perform as a team."

Dodd said it took about halfway through the season before everyone was thinking in a similar way. They learned from him. He learned from them.

In the beginning there were groups of girls hanging out together, but not the total togetherness the coach was looking for. He brought in local pastor Kenny Engels, who was Chattanooga Christian's volleyball coach for a brief time, to speak to the team about unity. The six seniors, in particular, got the message.

"I believe they realized what was at stake," Dodd said.

Reynolds is one of those seniors and an all-around talent on the floor. She leads the team with 450 assists and is second in kills and third in digs and aces.

Libero Katie DeLay has put up astronomical statistics in her five-year varsity career and this year again leads the team with 855 digs and 173 aces. She's been part of two state-runner-up teams, but another of those is not what the Lady Bucs are looking for

"I think this year we have a lot more people with experience at state," said senior Sarah Keller, who has totaled the fourth-most digs for the Lady Bucs. "I think we only have three that haven't been. And I think we're working better as a team.

"I feel very confident. I think we'll go far, honestly."

Senior Halie Williamson, who is second on the team in assists and aces, has plans for a college career in softball at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. But she said it's been a while since she's stepped into a batting cage, choosing to devote her full concentration to volleyball in the fall.

Williamson said nervousness is always a concern playing at the state tournament. It doesn't help not knowing much about the opponent.

"You've just got to worry about yourself from this point on," Williamson said.

Other statistical leaders for Boyd-Buchanan are juniors Asia Kirkman with 337 kills and Sarah Emrey with 40.5 blocks. The other seniors are Madison Balthrop and Allie Ray. Junior Abbie Sewell is another contributor, and Dodd said freshman net player Erin Syring has been playing well lately.

Championships will be decided Friday at Siegel High School. Reynolds, in search of atonement, plans on the Lady Bucs being there, and she's anticipating another collective cry.

"I hope they're tears of joy," Reynolds said, "and not sadness."

Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him at twitter.com/KelleySmiddie.