Lady Wildcats go to 4-0 in district volleyball

photo Hixson's Courtney Jones (12) and Haleigh Raber wait for the ball during a volleyball match between Hixson and Central Tuesday at Central High School.

Hixson's volleyball team Tuesday finished what it started, and finished like it started.

The Lady Wildcats sandwiched commanding sets around two others -- one they eked out and won they lost -- but in all it was enough to defeat Central 3-1 in a District 6-AA high school match at Brown Middle School. Set scores were 25-12, 28-26, 16-25, 25-17.

Hixson (15-12, 4-0) is now the only 6-AA team without a district loss. Its remaining district matches are next Tuesday against Red Bank, which has one district loss, and two days later against East Ridge. Both are at Hixson.

"There's still work to be done," Hixson coach Janet Tate said, "and not a lot of time to do it."

The Lady Wildcats came out ready to work, prompting a Central timeout when they took a 9-3 lead. They went up 17-7 on one of Morghan White's five aces in the match, and except for 19-10 it was a double-digit advantage the rest of the way.

"We really played well," Tate said of the first set. "I don't know how many we had, but we didn't have many unforced errors compared to them. A lack of those, I think, was key. And our serve reception was key."

The second set was competitive throughout, but Central got to set point first and had it three times. Hixson had one and put it away right after on a block by Tay Tay Staten.

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"I like how we didn't quit in the second game when we could have," Tate said. "We gutted it out. I thought that was the turning point right there. Central was not going to lay down. They're competitive."

After the Lady Pounders rebounded in the third, the Lady Wildcats got out to an 8-1 lead in the fourth and twice led by 11 -- the last at 17-6.

Central (13-10, 3-1) hosts East Ridge on Thursday and plays at Brainerd a week later in its remaining district matches.

"In set three we went back and did the basics well," Central coach Jeff Baughman said. "We executed what we needed to execute.

"Hixson is a worthy opponent. We had a number of uncharacteristic unforced errors. We'll be ready to go Thursday."

Tate praised her's team did serving, which included 17 aces, led by Paige Lawson's six. She also led with 13 kills, and Staten's five blocks were high. Bailey Burba, who contributed four aces, led the Lady Wildcats with 18 assists, and Abby Tipton and Haleigh Raber were tops in digs with 15 and 14.

Rebekah Hill paced the Lady Pounders with 11 kills and 14 digs. Lexie Ainslie had 22 assists and 13 digs and equaled Adrian McClurg with four aces. McClurg and Brooke Parrott were the blocks leaders with two each.

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

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