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TSSAA Division I Class A-AA State Volleyball Tournament Results
Oct 25, 1997

Division I Class A-AA volleyball state championship goes to Livingston Academy
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. _ Two highly respected coaching veterans guided their team to the pinnacle of success Saturday in the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association Division I State Volleyball Tournament.

Catherine Neely, in her 34th year as a coach at Chattanooga's East Ridge High School, and Merl Smith, who has coached at his Overton County alma mater, Livingston Academy, since 1976, directed their teams to Class AAA and Class A-AA state championships, respectively.

East Ridge wrestled the AAA crown away from Brentwood, 3-15, 16-14, 19-17, in perhaps the most dramatic state tournament championship match since the sport was sanctioned by the TSSAA in 1976.

Livingston Academy won over Daniel Boone in the A-AA title match, dominating with a 15-4, 15-3 victory. "I think we got a little nervous watching that East Ridge-Brentwood match,'' said Livingston's Misty Garrett, whose team was waiting to take the court in the A-AA championship.

Livingston Academy celebrates Division I Class A-AA Volleyball state championship
"It kept going back and forth. It was great."

The AAA championship was an appropriate jewel in Neely's crown, which includes two former state runners-up finishes and the reknown that comes with being the winning high school volleyball coach in Tennessee history (877-306).

"We've been to the championship match and lost two other times and to the semifinals umpteen times,'' Neely said. "I'm so happy for this group of girls. They've been fighters, great competitors in every sport, and it's wonderful for them to win this."

Brentwood's championship match loss was a bitter disappointment with the Lady Bruins having finished as state runners-up for four years and five times in the past six seasons.

At the outset on Saturday, it appeared that Brentwood would clear the championship hurdle. Having defeated East Ridge 9-15, 15-2, 15-10 in pool play, the Lady Bruins started on fire in the championship rematch, winning the first game, 15-3.

But East Ridge was just as dominating early in the second game, going out to a 14-1 edge. Then, Brentwood fought like champions and came back with 13 consecutive points before falling, 16-14 and setting up the final game, which would be a rally-scoring, winner-take-all showdown.

Long-time state tournament observers likened the match to Germantown's three-game win over Red Bank in 1990 and a similar three-game win over East Ridge in 1988 or even the Chattanooga Kirkman victory that went three games in 1977.

With Middle Tennessee State University's Murphy Center rocking with excitement and the crowd standing through much of the match, East Ridge pulled away to a 14-11 lead. The momentum pendulum swung from side to side before East Ridge finally put together two points in a row together and celebrated the dramatic victory.

"It was a struggle for us at times, focusing on this and staying focused," Neely said. "We had the big emotional win over [two-time defending state champion] Sullivan South on Friday night, and it's hard to go against two quality opponents in two emotional games like this. It's a tribute to the girls and the way the type of competitors they are. One thing we did was stay aggressive, playing to win instead of not to lose. You can't do that in a game like this and I was proud to see us stay after it."

Tourney Most Valuable Player Beth Alexander said the Lady Pioneers had extra motivation because of their admiration for their coach.
"We wanted this one as much for Coach Neely as we did for ourselves," said Alexander, joined on the all-tourney team by teammates Holly Speiser and Alicia Scott.

"There is a lot of pressure in a game like this. You have to have a lot of maturity to handle it. I think that's what helped us make it through. We just weren't going to be denied. Every time it looked like we might lose, I was saying, 'Oh, no, this can't be it.'"

Other all-tournament honorees were Courtney Campbell, daughter of Brentwood Coach Barbara Campbell, Brentwood's Anna Roberts and Laura Hooks, who is the daughter of Sullivan South coach Sherry Hooks and the only senior on the Lady Rebel team.

The Class A-AA championship match had none of the drama of battle for the AAA title. Livingston Academy, which had defeated Daniel Boone 15-12, 9-15, 15-6 in pool play, was overwhelming in its championship victory. From the opening whistle, the Lady Wildcats dominated and made short work of their match with the 15-4, 15-3 victory.

"This is just a good group of athletic girls who have worked hard, I told [Glencliff coach] Glenn Falls that if we could get by Hume-Fogg in the Sub-State, I thought we could win it," Smith said. "It's been a good run, especially with the seniors on this team. When they were in middle school, I told the middle school coach in Livingston that I thought they were athletic enough that I could get to the state tournament with them if they'd stay together, play hard and work hard."

Though not a senior on the team, the win was especially sweet for all-tourney pick Paige Smith. The junior outside hitter is the daughter of
the coach. "It's really nice to win for him. He's made it great for us and taught us so much," she said. "He really likes the sport and works at it."

Garrett, Smith and Livingston's Karrie Reeder were selected as members of the all-tournament team along with Nicky Jessen of Daniel Boone, Summertown's Michelle McCormack and Portland's Meg Thornton, who was named as the Most Valuable Player. "Winning this is awesome," Garret said.

"It's the first thing really big that I've ever been a part of winning. I've been on AAU basketball teams that finished second in the nation and on [high school] basketball teams that finished second in the state. But this is the first time I've ever been on a championship team in something like this, and it feels great, just great!"

East Ridge closed out its season with a 53-9 record while Brentwood ended at 71-10. Livingston completed its championship campaign at 47-6 with Daniel Boone 33-13.