Science Hill region bound after blocking Dobyns-Bennett; West Ridge survives to play again

JONESBOROUGH — No matter what the sport, expect high-intensity competition when Science Hill and Dobyns-Bennett are lined up against each other. It was no different on Tuesday on the volleyball court. Just ask Science Hill senior Bryleigh Scott, whose Hilltoppers defeated the Indians 25-12, 25-19, 24-26, 25-19 in a District 1-AAA playoff contest on Tuesday evening at David Crockett High School. "We do look forward to playing D-B," Scott said. "I feel like it is a school rival, a sport-wide rival so we look forward to having a really challenging game. We look forward to the pressure and we look forward to the pressure and energy." Not only did Science Hill (37-3) advance to the Thursday's District 1-AAA championship match, but the Hilltoppers also earned a berth into next week's Region 1-AAA tournament. "It is such a relief, that was such a good game, so competitive," said Clara McBride, who had 12 kills for the Hilltoppers. "We are ready to take it to region." Science Hill, which defeated the Indians 3-0 and 3-1 during the regular season, won the first two sets, but couldn't hold off the Indians for the sweep, forcing a fourth set. Norah Shook led Dobyns-Bennett with 21 kills and 12 digs, while Madison Sykes had 11 kills, three blocks and two aces, and Milly Williams had 16 digs for the Indians. "The biggest thing we have got to do is play clean and take care of business on our side of the net," Science Hill head coach Laura Cook said. "They are going to get their big swings. They are scrappy, they are all over the play defensively so the biggest thing for us is just playing clean. Just doing what we need to do. That is just what it was, just settle, be calm and get after it." Clark was on the attack to open the fourth set, as the Hilltoppers built a 9-1 lead. Dobyns-Bennett whittled the margin to 20-18 before Science Hill finished them off. Lizzie Clark had 12 kills, Scott added 10 kills with four blocks and Sofia Pavlovich had nine kills for a very tall Science Hill front line. Lucy O'Daniel dished out 38 assists and had seven digs. Kaitlyn Wallace recorded 17 digs and Isa Dau added 16 digs, with Chloe Conner and Claire Lamb contributing eight digs piece in the win. Conner also had two aces for the Hilltoppers. "After the third set we knew that was not our best set and they came to bring it," McBride said. "Coach Cook was just like, play our game, play like we did the first two sets and take it to them and I think that is exactly what was we did." Jeslyn Harden had 13 digs, while Caroline Smith added nine and Anna Wackowski tallied eight for the for the Indians (23-9), which will face West Ridge in an elimination game on Wednesday. The winner of that match will face Science Hill on Thursday, in addition to earning a berth in next week's Region 1-AAA tournament. *** West Ridge 3, Tennessee High 2 Down two sets with the season on the line, the Wolves fought back to defeat the Vikings 17-25, 25-20, 16-25, 25-23, 15-12 to extend their season for at least one more match. "At that point your back is against the wall," West Ridge head coach Logan Kemp said. "They have to believe in each other. I told them I believe in them and I knew they could do anything. They just have to believe in themselves and you start what happened after that." Led by Nila Horne with 14 kills and 11 kills each from Kami Clark and Blake Frazier, the Wolves (17-14) squeaked past the Vikings by two points in the fourth set to force a deciding set, and was able to pull away from that point. "We knew it was going to be tough, but they stuck to the game plan that I gave them," Tennessee High head coach Carley Keene said. "I think things just got away from us in the fifth set, we got a little bit sloppy on a couple of points that really mattered. I hate to see our season end that way, but I couldn't be more proud of the fight that they gave going five sets on a do-or-die game." West Ridge also got 28 assists and nine digs from Katherine Hortenstine and 22 assists and 10 digs from Adalynn Massie. Other contributors included Analee Horne (23 digs), Emmy Allan (seven kills) and Harper Dougherty (six kills) for the Wolves. "I think Nila Horne probably having the best game she has had all season," Kemp said. "Fourteen kills, all over on defense. Her and Blake, our two senior outsides, best performances they have had. Whenever we have needed somebody we are relying them to be able to step in and they did an excellent job." Tennessee High (10-23), which dropped a couple of matches during the season to the Wolves, were led by Zoey Phillips with 17 kills and 16 digs, along with Karah Smith's 11 kills and 15 digs, and 10 kills and three blocks from Libby Boyles. They also got contributions from Emma Jones (24 assists, 11 digs), Piper Smith (16 assists, 10 digs) and Emily Curtin (18 digs). "I couldn't be more proud of how we came out in that first set and then obviously the second set didn't go how we wanted, but we rallied back," said Vikings, whose Vikings will lose four seniors to graduation. "Just staying competitive all night. We knew it was going to be hard, West Ridge is an awesome team and they have got some big hitters, their libero is awesome." West Ridge will hope that the fourth time is a charm for the Wolves, which is 0-3 against this season against Dobyns-Bennett, and will face them on Wednesday with the season on the line. "We have got a quick reset, it is going to be another battle," Kemp said. "At that point both teams are battling to stay alive, battling to be able to continue in the postseason. There is a lot on the line. I am just happy to see how it goes and see if we can rise to the challenge."