Baylor wins state in volleyball

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Three, two and finally one.

Baylor has been in the TSSAA Division II-AA volleyball state tournament each of the last six years. Three times the Lady Red Raiders finished third. Twice they finished runners-up.

Ultimately, a punctuation was put on that time span by Baylor's 2014 team, which Friday at Siegel High School captured that elusive title by defeating Father Ryan 3-1. Set scores were 25-23, 24-26, 25-21, 25-15.

Sophomore Gabby Gray led the net play for Baylor (43-9) with 24 kills and was selected most valuable player of the championship match.

"It feels great," Gray said. "Everything finally came together in one game. We met our goal. It's something we've been working on since June 1st."

Or in Baylor coach Sarah Lail's case, something the program has been working on since she brought the 2009 team to a state tournament and finished third.

The Lady Raiders also won state-volleyball championships in 1997 and 1998, but this is the first title for one of Lail's teams. Her 2011 and 2013 squads were second-place finishers.

"I'm just proud of them," Lail said of her players. "They finally got that one we've been trying to get for the past five years."

Although Lail deflected the credit her players' way, she made a strategic rotation change against the Lady Irish, whom the Lady Raiders had played three times previously this season, losing the last two.

"Once I knew it was them we were playing, I had to sit and think about what would be the best advantage for our team. What would be our best rotation against their big hitters?" Lail said. "I stayed up pretty late. I decided I had to go with my offensive lineup versus my defensive lineup."

Gray said although there was a tweak to the rotation, the game itself remained the same.

"I just know we have a really strong team," said Gray, who also made nine digs. "When we come together, we're unstoppable. I think we worked together really well today."

Haven Bethune was a key contributor in the victory with 18 kills, 16 assists, 11 digs and three block assists. Lail praised the effort by libero Lilly Turner, who worked for her 22 digs.

Sarah Sumida topped the Lady Raiders with 34 assists and also had 19 digs. Ashleigh Cook chipped in with eight kills and Jane Wilson added five with four block assists.

Lexy Hellerstedt is one of two Baylor seniors, and she contributed three kills and 10 digs. The other is Cassie Elrod, who watched from the bench. A knee problem that flared up Thursday left her unable to finish the tournament.

But after Thursday's win over Briarcrest that put Baylor in the title match, Elrod's teammates vowed they would win it for her. As she sat with her crutches, Elrod said she saw a few occasions in which after a kill a teammate pointed her way and acknowledged her.

"It was tough," Elrod said of not being able to play. "But I got to play the whole season. I helped the team get here. It was awesome to see it end like this."

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

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