Lady Falcons Make History with a Perfect District Season

Rutledge, TN- The Lady Falcons traveled to Grainger County to wrap up the final night of TSSAA's District 2-AA Tournament. With the Lady Falcons sitting in 1st place being 2-0 in tournament play, they anxiously waited to see who would be their competitor in the final match. The girls had secured a region berth the night before, but the Falcons were looking to bring the District Championship Title back to Church Hill to complete a shutout District Season. With a win in the Finals, this team would be the first in the school's history to not lose a set in the District Regular Season or Tournament.

We got the chance to speak with Athletic Director Jeremy Bailey before the match and he talked about how special it has been to watch this Volleyball Team compete. He mentioned that all the athletes on this team are constantly working with and supporting one another. He told us about the team going to the Red Barn Produce located near Grainger High School on Wednesday to get little pumpkins for each other and write messages of support on them that they kept placed under their sideline chairs for the rest of the tournament. He also introduced us to some of the Sophomore and Freshman players who willingly volunteered to help film the game tonight (Karsyn Gibson, Aubree Hall, Abby Williams, and Raylie Gray). There is no doubt that the relationship this team has built with one another plays a huge part in their success for the season.

In the first set, the Lady Falcons started strong, taking over their opponent Gibbs Lady Eagles. However, Gibbs would not go away lightly as they would end up keeping the score almost tied until the Falcons won the set 25-14. In the second set, the Falcons continued to reign as the supreme opponent, almost maintaining a consistent lead with the Lady Eagles making it close at times. The Falcons took set two 25-19. It only took one more set for the Lady Falcons to come out on top and with a 25-12 win they secured the 2-AA District Championship and their historical perfect season.

Seniors Veda Barton and Jaycee Cassidy led the team in kills. Barton had 13 in the match and Cassidy was close behind with 11. Lily Christian led with 33 assists, and Chloe Redwine led the team with 11 digs.

Unsurprisingly, several Falcons were awarded District Honors starting with Head Coach Nora Barton being named Coach of the Year for the second year in a row. Veda Barton was awarded Hitter of the Year. Setter of the Year was awarded to Lily Christian. Defensive Player of the Year was awarded to Chloe Redwine, and the Blocker of the Year went to Adah Snodgrass.

The First Team All-District named Falcons were Jaycee Cassidy, Veda Barton, Lily Christian, Chloe Redwine, and Adah Snodgrass.

All District Honorable Mentions were Kayla Capson, Aliah Laster, and Mattie Crowder.

On Monday, the Lady Falcons will travel to Greeneville as the District’s top seed to take on the Elizabethton Lady Cyclones at 6:30pm in the first round Game 2 of Regionals.