Lady Tigers to open state tournament at home
There were two big prizes on the table for the top-seeded Ringgold Lady Tigers as they began play in the Region 6-AAA volleyball tournament at Murray County High School on Saturday.
The first was a nice, shiny new trophy to put in the trophy case. The more important second reward, however, was home-court advantage in the state playoffs.
And when all the dust had settled early Saturday afternoon, the Blueand-white had obtained them both.
Ringgold captured a third consecutive region title in Chatsworth by taking down the host Lady Indians in a three-set sweep Saturday morning before a three setsto-one victory over North Murray in the championship match later in the afternoon.
Head coach Ashley Boren said it was “exciting” to see her team pull off the region three-peat.
“We’ve had a good season, but coming into this tournament, we hadn’t played in about two weeks,” she explained. “We’ve practiced, but we haven’t played in any real games. But the big thing for us was hosting (at state).
“I asked them, do you want to travel on Saturday or do you want to host, and of course they wanted to host. There are some tough teams in this area, but I’m glad we pulled it out and we’re ready to host (this) Saturday.”
The Lady Tigers had a bit of a slow start against Murray County before turning it on to win by scores of 25-21, 25-16 and 25-17.
Bethany Thomason had nine kills in the win. Melanie Severns added seven kills and five blocks, while frontline mate Sydney Pittman had seven kills and seven blocks. Jasley Brooks added five kills. Emily Ridley picked up two aces and Zoie Metcalf had four kills and five aces.
Ringgold would win the first two matches against the Lady Mountaineers with relative ease, 25-17