Story and Photos by Rusty Ellis
The Cookeville Lady Cavs saved their season on Tuesday night by defeating Green Hill by a final score of 3-2 (21-25, 21-25, 25-18, 25-21, 15-13).
The Lady Hawks controlled the first two sets to take a 2-0 advantage, which put them just a single set away from clinching a spot in the district championship and a spot in the region tournament.
At this point however, Cookeville head coach Lucas Martin made it clear to his team that if they didn’t want their season to end, they would have to pick up the pace.
“About a set-and-a-half in, I told them if they continued playing like that, they were going home at the end of three,” Martin said. “They picked it up and started playing volleyball. They fought back for all three of those games against a really good team.”
As far as what it was that the team did differently to complete the comeback, Martin says his team simply cleaned up their play and eliminated most of their mistakes.
“Sloppy play,” Martin said. “Missed serves, over-passes, just sloppy. The players themselves checked it and made the improvements for the last three games.”
With the win, the Lady Cavs will take on Mt. Juliet, a team they defeated twice in the regular season, in Wednesday’s district championship at 6:30 P.M. They also clinched a berth in the region tournament.
For Martin, he says he’s pleased with how far his team has gone considering the competition they’ve battled to make it to this point.
“I’m excited we’re moving forward, especially from our district when you look at how good these teams are,” Martin said.
