Lady Dragon netters off to a fast start at 6-1 in the early season

August 24, 2022 by Ken Lay

In the second year of Coach Lorri Johnson’s tenure, the Clinton High School volleyball team is off to a fast start.

The Lady Dragons have won six of their first seven matches, and they’ve won a pair of District 3-AAA matches out of the gate.

Clinton has league wins over Campbell County (25-22, 25-20, 25-12) and Karns (25-20, 27-25, 20-25, 25-19).

Johnson said she was pleased with her team’s first two league wins over the Lady Cougars and Lady Beavers.

“It’s not bad,” she said. “We connected better up the middle than we did on the outside and with our right side.

“I liked the way we competed, and we want to be in the mix (for the district championship).”

The Lady Dragons defeated the Lady Beavers in four games.

“We played well in three of those games,” Johnson said. “We messed around a little bit in that third game and it got away from us.”

Against Karns, Riley Owens had 12 kills, nine digs and seven blocks and Ellie Morrell added nine kills.

Clinton hosted the Summer Splashdown over the weekend and posted wins over Fulton, Claiborne and Sevier County, in straight sets.

The Lady Dragons suffered their only loss of the season Saturday in the tournament as they fell to Bledsoe County 25-20, 25-21.

Despite the loss, Clinton picked up contributions from several players in the match.

Against the Lady Warriors, Owens came up with 11 kills, three digs, two aces and one assist. Freshman Lanee Carmichael added six kills. Darbi Brummett had five digs, two blocks and a pair of service aces.

Josie Moody had 11 assists and Keegan Skaggs finished with 11.

In a 25-19, 25-21 win over the Bearettes, Brummett finished with eight kills, four aces and three blocks. Senior Brooklynn Blisard finished with four kills while Carmichael and Owens posted three kills each.

Owens also came up with four digs and three blocks. Defensively, McKenzie Crisp had 12 digs while Zavie Ford added five.

In the 25-5, 25-3win over Claiborne, Brummett had four kills, four aces, four digs and three blocks.

The Lady Dragons swept Fulton 25-15, 25-12 behind 10 kills and a service ace.

Brummett had five blocks and Skaggs dished out 10 assists.

Clinton opened its 2022 campaign with a 25-3, 25-12, 25-14 win over Union County on Monday, Aug. 15.