By DANA GOODSON
For Brentwood Home Page
MURFREESBORO -- The Lady Raptors almost met their match in the second round of the TSSAA state volleyball tournament Wednesday afternoon at MTSU in Murfreesboro.

Defending state champion Kingsport Dobyns-Bennett fought hard as they attempted to take down Ravenwood but not hard enough as the Lady Raptors ended the day remaining unbeaten in tournament play.

In a rematch of last year’s Class AAA final, RHS defeated the Indians 3-1 and now play Siegel at 1 p.m. Thursday on Siegel’s home floor for a spot in Friday’s 6 p.m. final at MTSU. The loser will get another chance to advance into the championship game of the double-elimination event.

Ravenwood Coach Tracey Berry “was impressed with the girls’ play,” saying they “didn’t want a repeat of last year.”  They “made adjustments on blocking which seemed to make a difference” when it came to defeating the defending state champs.

Ravenwood started out with the lead in Game 1, holding steady to up until the 10th point when Dobyns-Bennett crept past them taking the advantage at 12-11. Misfired hits and broken blocks on the Raptors’ behalf caused the Indians to gain momentum and take the score, 19-16.  Dobyns-Bennett’s excellent defense was always there when Ravenwood wanted a kill. With the score being 23-18, the Lady Raptors were not able to recoup from a time out as they lost the first game 25-20.

The Lady Raptors’ loss didn’t settle well as they sought out revenge in a second game that didn’t come easy.  Both teams were able to block and execute their strong offenses as the score stayed within one point of each other in the later half of the game.  RHS freshman Kathryn Hutson was on fire in the front row assisting the offense with plenty of kills and sturdy blocks to help take the 20-18 lead. The Raptors maintained the lead to come away with the 25-23 win.

Strategic and powerful offense was key to overcoming the Indians’ concrete defense as they stood to everything Ravenwood fired at them. The Raptors still managed to hold the lead throughout most of the third game.  They were killing the ball from the middle and outside making the score 9-7.  The Lady Raptors were in much better spirits as they were finding ways to get past the impressive and well coached ladies of Dobyns Bennett. At 23-18 the Raptors called a time out to recoup after the Indians chalked up several points on the board, but all threats were diminished as Ravenwood quickly took care of business to defeat the Indians 25-18.

The Raptors practiced great team work in Game 4 as they finalized their win against the Indians.  Kathryn Hutson was still ablaze from the middle assisting her team to take the 12-7 go-ahead.  Ravenwood meshed well as they worked to increase their lead to 18-12 and later close the game at 25-17.