Senior's birthday a present for her team
By JEROME BOETTCHER
For the Brentwood Home Page
There were numerous reasons for Sara Rains to play inspired volleyball on Tuesday.

First off, the Ravenwood High senior was playing her final Battle of the Woods match against Brentwood High. Plus, the Raptors were trying to stay undefeated in District 11-AAA action and in the state of Tennessee.

But Tuesday was also significant on a personal level.

“It is always sweeter to have a win on your birthday,” Rains said.

She won’t soon forget her 18th birthday, not only for her teammates’ rendition of Happy Birthday, but because she chipped in six kills as Ravenwood swept visiting Brentwood in three sets (25-12, 25-12, 25-23).

“I know it is her birthday and she had the opportunity to be distracted by that and she really pulled through,” RHS sophomore Kathryn Hutson said. “I think this is one of the best matches she has had. We all wanted to pull through for her birthday.”

Rains stepped up at key times, especially in the third game when her timely kills gave the Raptors some breathing room against a feisty Bruins squad. The outside hitter plans on playing volleyball in college – most likely at the club or intramural level.

Most of her focus will be on her pre-medical studies as she wants to major in nutrition and hopes to attend Auburn, Clemson or North Carolina.

“Out of my [five] seniors, she is the one who hasn’t had as much experience playing at that same level. She is my brain on my team,” RHS coach Tracey Berry said. “She is not planning on playing volleyball in college. She wants to be a doctor. The rest of them play that competitively because they want to play in college. It has never been a difference in effort. She has always given 100 percent effort.”

Hutson led the charge once again as the 6-foot-3 outside hitter had 21 kills. She punished Brentwood last month with 19 kills in Ravenwood’s four-set win.

But this time around it wasn’t all Hutson. The Raptors received smooth passing and big kills and blocks, especially from Rains, Jazzy Oates, Micaela Bailey and Stephanie Cerino.

“Everybody worked so hard together. It was definitely a team thing,” Rains said. “Kat played fantastic but the entire team definitely picked it up and played together.”

Ravenwood (24-8, 10-0) looked like the defending state champ in the first two games, never allowing Brentwood (24-17, 6-4) to grab the lead.

“Our passing on serve was really good, a lot better than it has been most of the season,” Berry said. “We served tough. We always know we have to get another team in trouble because they have a great group of young kids over there.”

The Bruins didn’t go quietly, taking their first lead of the match on the first point of the third game. They swapped leads with Ravenwood throughout the final set but never pushed their advantage to more than one point. Unforced errors on serves and kill attempts doomed Brentwood.

“I think [Ravenwood] came out ready to play and it took us a while to relax into the intensity,” BHS coach Barbara Campbell said. “But I think we got there in the third game. What I’d love is to play them three more games because I think we were starting to level the playing field a little bit. Just getting over the nerves and the anxiety, I wish we didn’t have that. But Ravenwood is a really good team and when you know you are going to play them sometimes that happens.”

Brentwood was paced by Hunter Thompson’s eight kills. Sarah Tuttle added five and Madison Butler had 10 digs. For Ravenwood, Alyssa Ivey recorded 36 assists and Micaela Bailey had 12 digs.