Christian Academy of Knoxville relegates Signal to state runner-up

Arkansas-SEMO Live Blog

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Christian Academy of Knoxville had the final degree of separation in the TSSAA Class AA volleyball state tournament.

In a classification where it looked as though the champion was going to come from a near-handful of programs, the Lady Warriors proved to be a little better than the rest. They capped their run through the competition with a 3-1 victory over Signal Mountain in Friday's championship match at Siegel. Set scores were 22-25, 25-23, 25-14, 25-21.

CAK (35-14) beat Jackson South Side 3-0 in its tournament opener, then defeated Signal Mountain 3-2 in a winners-bracket semifinal and beat Knoxville Catholic 3-2 in Thursday's winners-bracket final. Signal Mountain's three wins Thursday included 3-1 over Dyersburg and 3-2 over Catholic.

"It was going to be a close call, any match between us, Knoxville Catholic, Dyersburg or Signal Mountain," CAK coach Andrew Garland said. "There were so many tight games. They all came down to the last four or five points or so. Yeah, we won today. But if any of us played, somebody was probably going to win three and somebody was going to win two. There were no clear teams."

When it came to difference-makers in the final match, officials must have had a difficult time choosing which of the Lady Warriors made a bigger difference between Cheyenne Hooper and Courtney Shields. Hooper was selected most valuable player of the match, likely because at her height she helped neutralize the Lady Eagles' go-to hitter, 6-foot-2 Taelor Kellum.

"They shut Taelor down to a season-low 10 kills," Signal Mountain coach Jennifer Redman said. "She usually gets 18 to 25 a match. Ten. Wow."

Hooper also had 14 kills, but fellow senior Shields had 16 to go with a career-best 11 aces.

"I think our serve-receive let us down. No. 14 wore us out," Redman said.

Kellum did have two block solos and two block assists, but Kennady Collick was Signal Mountain's leader in kills with 11. Aubrie Johnson had eight kills and five block assists.

Lady Eagles ibero Aryn Sanders totaled 15 digs, followed by Kellum with 13 and Collick with 11. Kellum and Hallie Hunt had three aces apiece, and Amanda Thielges set 30 assists.

"I'm pleased about the season," Redman said. "A 46-12 record is not too bad, even making it to a state final. That's a plus."

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

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