by Rusty Ellis
The Cookeville Lady Cavs closed out a season-sweep over rival White County 3-1 on Monday evening.
The Lady Cavs opened the match on a high note, as an Alanah Craig ace gave CHS a 12-5 advantage. The lead grew to as much as 19-10 before Cookeville closed out the first set by a 25-18 count.
It was Sparta who came out with the higher energy in the second set, as the Warriorettes took a 6-4 lead to force a timeout. From there, Cookeville went on a 6-0 run to take control at 10-6. White County cut the deficit down to just two at 14-12, but a Bethany Phillips kill pushed the lead back to three and helped CHS go on a quick run to take a 19-12 advantage. White County battled, but it was Cookeville who took a 2-0 lead thanks to a 25-17 win in the second set.
The Warriorettes bounced back in the third, though it didn’t get off to a great start. A Craig kill gave Cookeville a 5-1 lead, but from there, it was a back-and-forth affair that saw both team struggle to close the other out. Gracie Clark gave Sparta a 20-19 lead with her kill late, and the Warriorettes took a 24-20 lead to force another timeout. Back-to-back kills from Kallie Clark helped Cookeville get within a point, but White County closed out the set 25-23 to force a fourth set.
From there however, it was all Cookeville as the Lady Cavs opened with a 16-5 run to start the set and went on to win 25-11.
“I think overall, we executed and we finished,” said CHS head coach Staci Wiegand. “We had moments where we struggled and we got sloppy, so moving forward into districts, that’s where our minds are as far as what we need to clean up.”
Wiegand says she kept things very simple in the huddle following the third-set defeat, as she felt her team started going away from what made them successful.
“I really told the girls that on certain areas, we’ve got to change our tempo because Sparta adjusted,” Wiegand said. “They adjusted to it and were beginning to handle it, so we just had to overcome that.”
Cookeville will wrap up the regular season on Tuesday when they head to Wilson Central, while Sparta will host Lebanon.
