Four-year starters help Lady Raptors defend title at state tournament

 By CAROL STUART
Brentwood Home Page
Four-year starters Micaela Bailey, Stephanie Cerino and Alyssa Ivey are all headed to different colleges to play volleyball next year, but right now they’re part of a class of five seniors that will have a lasting legacy at Ravenwood. That quintet of players, which also includes Jazzy Oates and Sara Rains, aren’t just teammates or BFFs “but also are my sisters,” Bailey says.

The Class of 2012 began their career at RHS three seasons ago as ninth-graders and the program had never made it past the district tournament before. This morning they open play in their third straight state tournament – and the last two times they’ve ended up in the finals, winning it as juniors.

“Winning state this year would definitely be the way to end our years together,” Ivey said.

Ivey, the team’s full-time setter this year, will take the court at 9 a.m. at Middle Tennessee State University where she will enroll in January after graduating a semester early. Bailey will join last year’s setter, Lydia Wright, at Union University next year, while Cerino has committed to the University of Evansville.

Oates is debating whether to play and where to play volleyball in college, considering Trevecca and Tennessee State -- where Jamie Cooper went to play after last season. And Rains, the only one on a different travel volleyball team, “is an absolute genius – she no joke has like a 4.5 going on academics,” Ivey said, and is looking at Clemson and some other schools.

“I've been playing volleyball with some of them since 12 and others since 13, and we go year-round,” said Bailey, who plays the libero defensive specialist position. “I travel with them and they are truly not only the best friends, they are my sisters. If I ever need anything, they’re there for me. Every senior on the court knows when I’m down and when to pick me up.

“… We all get each other. I've never played with anyone who knows me as well as them. When the five of us are on the court, I couldn't ask for anyone better. It's not that we're the best players – we play the best together.”

So far while defending their TSSSA Class AAA state championship this season, the Lady Raptors haven’t been beaten by a team in the state of Tennessee. They only have six losses total to powerhouses from Georgia and Alabama in out-of-state tourneys.

“Oh my goodness, it's going to be so hard to leave them,” Cerino said. “This is sad. It’s going to be my last year playing with them, and Alyssa is graduating early. It's going to be very emotional.”

Ivey said she and Oates had been playing together on the Alliance Volleyball Club team out of A-Game since age 12. “We have a great time . . . Jazzy and I room together every single weekend at tournaments, it’s like we live together.”

Ivey was a basketball player until 7th grade, until Coach Zeno talked her into playing middle school volleyball. Alliance club director Jay Goldstein then asked her to play on the club team to fill out the roster. All her cousins had played volleyball, and an uncle coaches junior college volleyball at Wallace State in Alabama.

Ivey was an outside hitter when she first started at 13, then was a right-hitter and started setting some the next year. She became a full-time setter in 16s and was the playmaker as a freshman, but moved to outside hitter as a sophomore year and played in both spots last season.

By graduating in December, Ivey is following in the footsteps of last year’s star middle hitter, 6-foot-5 Madelyn Hutson who enrolled last January to play for the University of Texas.

“Since Madelyn liked it so much, it definitely had an impact on me. I don't care to miss prom; I just want to get a head-start and actually play,” Ivey said.

While Hutson has departed from last season, her younger sister Kat Hutson has taken a bigger role on the team as a sophomore this year.

“She and Madelyn are polar opposites,” Bailey said. “Madelyn was very calm and laid back. Kat is very energetic and gets the crowd fired up and her team. We all call her still the freshman. We make a lot of freshmen comments.”

While some think the team has a target on their back, Ivey thinks the team is still hungry about winning another state title.

Their freshmen year Ravenwood came real close to getting out of powerful District 11-AAA, where Brentwood High had reigned for years with eight state championships.

“When we lost that state championship, it was devastating because we had gone that far, so we were so believing we were going to win,” Cerino said.

“Junior year we came back hard, we came back with everything we had, and we pretty much took it. It wasn't a close game, we were so motivated. I think sophomore year definitely helped with that, losing in the state. We were ready to take it especially the same team we lost to. We refused to lose to them again.”

Bailey said this year’s team has a different identity despite several players returning. Last year’s team was offensive minded, she said.

“Now we are a more defensive-minded team,” she said. “It’s a completely different team. We miss them . . . but we work the same together. It wasn’t hard to replace them because we do have so much talent.”

Bailey, the only one from Sunset, started playing volleyball in sixth grade when she was in the first class at the Nolensville middle school. She had played softball and also basketball when she was younger, and had danced.

“Actually I didn't know anything about volleyball,” Micaela recalled. “My parents came home, and my dad is like ‘Oh, are you going to try out’? He said you should give it a shot, but I was not sure.

“I went to tryouts and made it, and l’ve loved it since. I think volleyball is the true definition of a team sport, and I wanted to be a part of a team. . . . In volleyball when you’re missing someone on the court, you know.”

Micaela says she and Jazzy have a block together, but she admits her role to dig out serves and spikes is a tough one.

“It is difficult, and I don't think people realize how hard service is,” Bailey said. “Defense is the heart of a team. The offense get the glamour and the defense has to help. Offense wouldn't be anything without defense.”

Cerino said each of the seniors has their own group of friends, but they also hang out together outside of volleyball. “We pretty much talk to each other every single day of school,” she said.

While the Lady Raptors wanted to face and defeated Dobyns-Bennett last season, it’s hard to know what teams are out there this year, Cerino said.

“Doing a repeat is going to be very difficult,” she said. “Everyone is out to beat us. . . . There is definitely a lot of pressure. As far as I know, the way we talked about it, we're very confident about it and we are very focused.

“It's our senior year, and we want to go win another state championship. And we know that what we're defending right now. But it’s going to be a lot of pressure.”

Cerino played softball up until 8th grade and a lot of her friends in Catholic school up in Ohio all started getting into volleyball but then lost interest.

“I said I think I'm going to stick with it, and I went on to play the club season,” Stephanie said. “I fell in love with it. It is in my opinion, one of the most exhilarating sports to play because the points go so quickly.”

Cerino moved to Tennessee and into the Ravenwood zone, making the varsity as a freshman right after moving.

“They are the best group of girls,” she said. “We all pretty much get along. There has never been any problems, any drama, anything, because we understand each other so much. We've been playing with other so forever. I'm going to miss them so much.”

“We’ve talked about it, we are all going to miss each other too much,” Bailey said. “We're all going to come back and eat dinner and visit and make sure we all see each other. There’s no way we’re not going to see each other and call each other.”

“I would not have made it without the years with this group of girls I'm with right now, and if i ever needed anything – anything they would have my back.”

“We don't even have to think about it anymore,” Ivey said. “I can't imagine not playing with them anymore.”