Lady Senators claim third consecutive district title
The Norris Middle School Volleyball Team made history Thursday, Sept. 21 at Anderson County High School when they swept Jefferson and Robertsville in two sets to win the regular season district championship.
The victories brought the teams district record to 12-0 for the season and secured a first place seed in the Area 2 Tournament held at Clinton Middle School on Tuesday, Sept. 26.
The Lady Senators started the night facing their cross-county rival Jefferson Middle School. The team from Oak Ridge had taken a set from Norris in early August and showed little respect for the two-time district champion Lady Senators, trading points throughout the first set.
The set was knotted up at 14-14 when Norris’ Kylie Alvis ripped off four service points with the pin-point passing from her sister Sadie and NMS libero Leah Freeman.
After a Jefferson timeout and sideout, Norris regained the serve on a big kill by Jayce Braden who proceeded to serve two more points and an ace to bring the NMS lead to 21-15. After trading a couple more points NMS right side hitter Erin Cantrell served points 24 and 25 to bring the first set victory to NMS 25-18.
The second set saw a determined Lady Eagle team not willing to give NMS an easy victory. The Oak Ridge team surged out to a 4-0 lead and continued to hold the lead at 13-9 and 20-16.
It looked like Jefferson was going to send the match into a decisive third set but NMS outside Emily Varner had other ideas, helping NMS claw back into the match with a massive crosscourt kill and two straight service points.
Erin Cantrell then ripped off three straight service points to give the Lady Senators their first lead at 22-21.
After a Jefferon sideout, Leah Freeman scored to service points to bring the score to 24-22.
Jefferson still refused to give up scoring a point of their own to make the score 24-23 Norris. Sadie Alvis then served up match point and NMS middle hitter Allie Ammons won the match on a kill off a Kylie Alvis set as Norris won the set 25-23 and the match two sets to none.
The next match featured an over-matched Robertsville team that Norris dispatched 25-13, 25-11.
Emily Varner scored five points on five aces, Leah Freeman scored 10 points and six aces, Erin Cantrell scored eight points and four aces, and Jayce Braden added four points and three aces.
The victory closed out the regular season for Norris who finished 28-3 overall and 12-0 in district play.
Norris played in the Area 2 District Tournament on Tuesday, Sept. 26 at Clinton Middle School at 6:30pm.
On Sept. 15 and 16 Norris travelled to Lebanon, Tenn. to play in the 12 team Blue Devil Classic Tournament at Lebanon High School.
The team started play on Friday with two pool play victories over Watertown (25-0, 25-0) and Coopertown (25-14, 26-24). Saturday morning brought an NMS victory over Macon (25-17, 25-13) to start the morning before dropping a tough match to defending champion Mill Creek Middle School in 3 sets 21-25, 25-9, 15-8.
Norris bounced back in the final match of pool play stomping East Robertson 25-6, 25-4 to claim a spot in the Gold Medal Tournament bracket.
In the semifinals NMS faced Walter J. Baird Middle School, who had a player as tall as the 6’3” NMS Coach Jeff Harshbarger.
The Lady Sentors were not intimidated as Leah Freeman served NMS to an 8-0 lead in set one, winning the set 25-8.
Kylie Alvis added 14 points and five aces as NMS clinched the second set 25-18 to advance to the finals for the second time in as many years.
Norris faced Mill Creek Middle School, the team from Williamson County, that had already defeated them in pool play earlier in the day.
The Lady Senators dropped the first set 25-19 as missed serves and hitting errors plagued the team from Norris.
The second set looked like Mill Creek was going to roll to a victory as they jumped out to an 8-0 lead.
The Norris girls would not give up and fought back the entire set climbing to within one point at 23-22 forcing Mill Creek to call its last timeout. The comeback fell a little short as Mill Creek rolled off two straight points to clinch the second set 25-22 and the championship two sets to none.
NMS Coach Harshbarger said of the match, “I am so proud of our girls for not giving up in the second set when the score was 8-0. They showed true championship character and this experience will help us on Sept. 30 when we will be playing for a Sectional Championship.”
The TMSAA Large School Sectional Tournament will be held on Saturday, Sept. 30 at Anderson County High School. Play starts at 9 a.m. and continues with the playoffs through the early evening.