By DANA GOODSON
For Brentwood Home Page

In Williamson County, it is known you rarely see a district volleyball match without going four games and Tuesday night Independence and Ravenwood helped keep that theory certain.  “It’s been a rough four days” for the Lady Raptors coach Tracey

Ravenwood blockers get up high for the win.

RHS celebrates the kill.

Indy gets one by the Ravenwood blockers.

Berry said.

After coming off a loss from Brentwood Thursday and close losses at The Border War Challenge in Atlanta this weekend, Ravenwood was ready for a deciding win against the Eagles. Shots were fired from both teams in the beginning of game one which kept the score steady, but the game took its pace and Ravenwood kept a three point lead up until the mid point of the game.  Strong blocks were put up by middle blocker Jazzy Oates and outside hitter Kathryn Hutson to help halt Independence at thirteen points.  By the looks of things, the Raptors had it in the bag with strong kills coming from the middle and outside until the Eagles had a small four point run.  The run was quickly brought to a standstill by Ravenwood to end the game at 25-17.

Early in game two, Independence came out strong to up the score in their favor at 11-8 but the Lady Raptors quickly broke even as they called a time out to recoup and fire back making the score tied at 12. 

The Eagles were able to maintain a consistent two-point trail behind the Raptors with their capable hitters killing several balls past Ravenwood’s immense barricade at the net. Towards the end of the game the Eagles were able to steal a couple of points away from Ravenwood due to some unforced errors.  With the score being 23-19 the Raptor’s Madelyn Hutson took the offensive stage to shore up the win at 25-20.

Independence was off to a great start in game three.  Leading at 9-6 they had a solidifying block against Ravenwood to help gain momentum and bring the score to 11-6.  There were intensified rallies throughout the game that ended in both teams favor.

The Eagles libero had some great defensive digs and hard hits from the back row to help maintain the score at 17-10.  Ravenwood started to creep back into the game at 24-22 with one point to spare until the Eagles were able to close out the game. Hutson killed one from the middle to make the score 24-23 followed by an Independence error to tie things up at 24. The heart wrenching game ended in the Eagles favor with two errors by Ravenwood to make the final score 26-24.

Game four was less intense as Ravenwood started out with strong offensive plays to make the score 18-12. The Eagles tried to make a comeback at 18-15 but couldn’t take the lead away from the Raptors who ended the game by slamming one into Independences block that landed out of bounce to make the score 25-16.

            “This was a good, strong win to add to the W column,” said coach Berry.   Both teams will see each other this weekend at the Middle Tennessee Classic followed by the district tournament next week.