By Thomas Sellers Jr.
Lady Rebel Joze Smith volleys the ball in front of teammate Rachel Woelm during the Germantown contest last week.
The outcomes of the four sets against the Germantown Lady Red Devils proved to Tipton-Rosemark Academy Head Coach Wendy Porter that her Lady Rebels could have been victorious. But the Lady Red Devils were the victors Sept. 14 in the TRA Gymnasium 26-24, 25-21, 22-25 and 25-21. “We just had too many unforced errors,” Porter noted. “There were balls dropping that shouldn’t have been hitting the floor, not playing smart and not knowing where our bodies were at. We were swinging and balls were going everywhere.” Lady Rebels had plenty of good swings from players like Abby Dunford, Rachel Woelm, Havana Silva, Joze Smith, Bethany Crane, Kallie Alexander and Haley Ramsey throughout the four sets. Woelm served up an ace in the first set to tie the score at 8-8. TRA was ahead 11-8 when Ramsey slapped down an ace later in the opening set. After a Silva kill, the Lady Rebels were ahead 15-11. TRA’s Sydney Pilkington added to the TRA advantage with three serves. The Lady Red Devils overcame the 18-11 deficit eventually tying the first set at 22-22. The opening set would see two more ties before Germantown prevailed 26-24. Germantown held the lead most of the second set building a 20-14 advantage. TRA rallied to make the score 22-21 in favor of the Lady Red Devils. Germantown closed out the set with the final three points to win 25-21. Behind 2-0 in sets, TRA fought off defeat for one set winning 25-22. Smith and Ramsey got the Lady Rebels off to a hot start with spikes to build a 12-6 lead. Germantown did grab the advantage at 17-16 in the third set. Trailing 19-16, TRA went on a 7-1 run to jump ahead 23-20. The Lady Rebels tried to force a fifth and decisive set tying Germantown 12-12 in the fourth set. The Lady Red Devils maintained a slight advantage eventually pulling out a 25-21 victory for the match. “I play teams like this because I want that challenge,” Porter said. “This is where we get stronger and where we build. This is where we see what we are made of and where we need to grow. Being a young team, there are several areas we need to grow in.” Porter said the Lady Red Devils provided a much-needed test for her squad. She hopes her girls realize they have the potential to beat athletic and smart teams like Germantown.
“I hope that we just play smarter,” she concluded. “Our serving was on tonight but we can be more strategic about it. We had some great kills tonight. We also had a lot more that could have been great but we didn’t play smart with our body positioning. I’m hoping they learn from each one of those.”
