Ravenwood captures sixth victory over Independence this season

By CAROL STUART
Brentwood Home Page
MUFREESBORO -- It almost looked too easy, but when it was all said and done Ravenwood repeated as state volleyball champion after nobody in Tennessee could take down the Lady Raptors.

District rival Independence, a team that had already lost five times to RHS this season, got the final shot at Ravenwood but still came up short 3-0 (25-14, 25-19, 25-23) in the TSSAA Class AAA championship Saturday night at MTSU.

"Absolutely unbelievable,"  said Stephanie Cerino, one of five Lady Raptors seniors. "Some people say 'Oh, it's the second time, you're not going to be as excited.' We are just as if not more excited to do it a second time. We worked all season for this. We knew Independence would be fighting hard."

The winning point seemed to go on forever with the familiar foes digging out play after play until Raptors senior Jazzy Oates finally put it away "with the help of my setter and amazing passer," Alyssa Ivey.

"We kept like tipping and I was just like, 'We're not going out tipping, I've got to swing at this point,' " Oates said. "It still feels surreal."

The Lady Eagles had not been ahead since 2-1 in the first game, when they went up 5-2 in the third and even led at 21-18 on consecutive aces by junior setter Paige Murphy. But

But senior Stephanie Cerino combined on couple of big blocks including one with Oates and another with Emily Vennevik, while Oates had a key spike down the stretch.

"It feels incredible," Oates said. "I've heard that it's really hard to win back to back, but I'm so glad we pulled it out, I'm so proud of my girls, my team. They're amazing."

Sophomore outside hitter / middle blocker Kat Hutson, 6-foot-3 and "still growing," followed in the footsteps of sister Madelyn Hutson as Tournament MVP.

"I was so surprised. It was like a shock to me," Kat said. "It means so much to me, and I know it means so much to my parents, too. I couldn't be more thankful. God gave me all of my abilities."

Madelyn, currently injured, is a freshman volleyball player at the University of Texas and was unable to attend. "I definitely will call her tonight," said Kat, who will visit the University of Florida next weekend. "I don't think I'll be playing with her, but I'll definitely be playing against her."

Lydia Wright, another senior on last year's first championship team, was in the audience, however. Several of the RHS players went to see her Union team play at Trevecca on Thursday night.

"I think repeating is a lot harder because there's a big target on your back," Coach Tracey Berry said. "We lost four seniors last year, so it was a little bit different team  ... We had some sophomores out there that were new and didn't have the experience of being in the state tournament. So it's a little nerve-wracking."

It was the seventh state championship for Berry, who had won four titles at Page and also one in Michigan.

"Last year even though we hadn't been the state champion, I always felt there was a target on our backs," she said. "Everybody knew that we were a strong team.

"All season we've had that target this year and everybody knew we were the team to beat and it was a little tough. . . . I think the kids are poised, and you just have to train that that you've got to be ready for everybody's best game all the time."

Ravenwood's only losses this season were to out-of-state teams during tournaments.

"They were really close at the end and I thought they might pull it out. But then when we just kept getting blocks and the hits down, we knew," Oates said.

Asked to talk about her teammates, she got emotional and broke down: "I don't know what to choose, there's so much to say ... "

In the first game, the Lady Raptors pulled out ahead 13-8 primarily with the help of left-handed spikes from Cerino on the right side, blocks by Cerino/Oates, and then Hutson started getting unwound for the kills.

"I think it really helped this game because the last time we played them in this tournament I was getting tooled a lot on the outside," Cerino. "I think this game I took into consideration and I made sure that didn't happen again."

RHS then reeled off eight straight points starting with senior Sara Rains' spike off Indy's libero and then seven more points during Rains' service to lead 18-8. Senior libero Micaela Bailey ended the game 25-14 with an ace.

Hutson scored three straight points to end the second game 25-19, first on a kill to the right outside corner and then on a dink and a block. Rains gave the Raptors a 2-0 lead in the final game on an ace, and then Hutson scored three of Ravenwood's sixth straight points to regain the lead from the 5-2 deficit.

"They really came on fire, they went really quick at us, served really tough," Berry said. "That was a close one but we pulled it out."

Page, defeating Goodpasture in Class AA, and Ensworth, the defending Division II-AA champ, also took home titles.

"We understand each other so much," Cerino said of her Lady Raptors senior teammates. "I don't know what I'm going to do without them. Even though the season's over, we're still going to hang out and get together and everything. It's just going to be sad not playing with each other all together.

"I'm so proud of everyone on this team, every single girl, every last one."