East clinches at least a share of district title with win over Cocke County

East, now 11-2 for the season, took the opening set in convincing fashion, 25-14. However, the Lady Red rallied for a 28-26 win in the second. The Lady Hurricanes bounced back by scoring the first seven points in a 25-16 third-set decision and took the match with a 25-20 win in set four.

Drinnon said, “They’re just a team that doesn’t let balls fall. And they’re very good on pushing the ball into spots where the other team is not. So, they really made us work for the win. They’re a strong team.”

“Yesterday, we worked on a new defense and I thought my girls came out and did a good job,” she added. “There were a few times when we got caught not in position. But I was proud of them for the way we played.”

Drinnon said, “I thought our girls came in here ready to play. But after we won that first set we didn’t come out strong in the next one and wound up losing.

“I was proud of them for the way we came back. We got behind a couple of times in the other sets but then we turned around and really played well.”

The defensive work was evidenced by the Lady ‘Canes racking up 126 digs in the match led by Lilebeth Jordan with 30. Jaci Drinnon had 27, Kiersten Bell 26 and Hailey Hall 23.

Drinnon also handed out 30 assists and amassed 9 kills and 5 service aces.

Lakin Burnside led the offense with 13 kills while Bell had 11 and freshman Ella Wampler nine. Reagan Forester added six and Hall had five. Jordan chipped in 8 assists with Forester having five aces and Wampler two.

Savannah Groth topped the Lady Red offense with nine kills while Abigail Erby and Paige Neithammer had seven apiece. Camryn Halcomb added six kills and four aces.

The Lady ‘Canes got off to a great start in the match, scoring the first five points. Burnside had a kill and a pair of blocks while Drinnon served an ace and also added a kill from the back row.

After allowing a ball to fall in for the first Cocke County point, East scored twice more for a quick 7-1 lead. A couple of service errors supplied the next Lady Red points but Bell put down a couple of kills for a 12-4 lead.

After the home team ran off three straight points to pull within five, Forester and Burnside had kills in a four-point East run that made it 16-7. The lead was still nine at 19-10 but Cocke County fought back to get within 19-13 on a kill by Shayna Williams.

However, East ran off five straight behind the serving of Forester and won the set going away.

The second game was exciting with 16 ties and nine lead changes. Both teams had good scoring runs with East using a 7-1 spurt highlighted by two kills by Wampler and another by Burnside to grab a 14-10 advantage.

But the home team scored five straight to regain the lead. It was 16-16 when East scored three straight to go back in front but the Lady Red reeled off a 7-1 spurt featuring kills by Paige and Abby Neithammer to lead 23-20.

The Lady ‘Canes came back again to go in front 24-23 but couldn’t close it out. It was tied at 23, 24, 25 and 26 before the home team scored two straight for the win.

That loss must have gotten East’s attention because they opened the third game on a 10-1 run with Hall, Forester and Bell getting kills to go along with a block by Burnside and aces by Drinnon and Forester.

The lead reached 19-9 before the Lady Red battled back within 21-16. But East closed it out with a 4-0 run that included a pair of kills by Bell.

It was close again in the final set. There were 13 ties and six lead changes. Cocke County led by as many as three on a couple of occasions but East came back with a four-point run both times to recapture the lead. The final tie came at 19-19.

East then closed on a 6-1 spurt as Burnside smashed three kills and Wampler served an ace.