In the first meeting between Blackman and Siegel on the volleyball court, it was an exciting five-set match won by the Blackman.
The rematch, however, was a different story as the Siegel Stars swept the Blaze 3-0 by winning 25-17, 25-23 and 25-10 Tuesday night, and the two teams are now tied atop the district standings.
“It was a learning night and a growing night for us,” Blackman coach Maddie Young said.
The first game of the match featured seven ties as the teams traded one- point leads from one to five. Blackman grabbed three two-point leads at 7-5, 8-6 and 10-8.
Siegel come back, however, on the serving of Kaitlyn Martin and June Padilla to score seven straight points to grab a 15-10 lead. Siegel’s biggest lead was 22-16 before the Stars closed out a 25-17 win.
The second game was very close as the Stars built a sizeable lead at 11-3 before Blackman went on a scoring run of 8-3 to cut it to 14-11 to force a timeout by Siegel coach Trish Flowers.
Out of the timeout, Siegel went up by seven at 23-16 before Blackman scored five straight off the serves of Ashilyn King to cut it to 23-21 to Flowers to use her final timeout of the game. Teams get two timeouts each game in each match.
Out of the timeout, Siegel clinched the game as Martin put a hammer down on the floor to give the Stars a 25-23 win.
The third game was all Siegel as its only one tie was at 1-1. The Stars rattled off five straight points to lead 6-1 and forced Blackman’s Young to use the first of her two timeouts. Siegel kept it rolling out of the timeout, going up by nine at 17-8 and forcing Young to use her final timeout.
It didn’t matter as Siegel was determined to end the match and did by outscoring the Blaze 8-2 for the final margin of 25-10.
Padilla led Siegel with 19 digs in the match and Martin led with 10 kills.
“Every single player tonight did what they had to do on the court to win and I am proud of them,” Flowers said. “We were prepared and made the necessary adjustments,”
With the win, Siegel is on a 10-match winning streak and is 16-8 overall and 5-1 in the district. Blackman dropped to 11-3 and is also 5-1 in the district.
Another leader on Siegel’s team was Sophie Bossong a senior, who has committed to UT-Chattanooga.
“(Sophie) Bossong is a presence on the court and is a good setter and knows who to get the ball to and she is a good scorer as well,” Flowers said.
The coaches summed it up this way:
“We will just have to wait and see what happens,” Young said.
Addedd Flowers: “You cannot take any opponent for granted in this district. We have got a lot of volleyball to play.”
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