By Shannon Fagan, WEIS Sports Director

BIRMINGHAM – It took the Cherokee County Lady Warriors a bit to shake off the jitters of playing the top-ranked team in the state, the Prattville Christian Lady Panthers, at the Class 4A Elite 8 volleyball tournament on Tuesday at the Birmingham CrossPlex.

The Lady Warriors lost the first set 25-18, but rallied from as many as 10 down to cut their deficit to four at 22-18.

In the second set, Cherokee County built a four-point lead at 19-15, needing just six points to close things out and tie things up at a set apiece.
But the Lady Panthers proved why they’re the top-ranked team in 4A. They rallied to take the second set 26-24 to regain momentum, which they didn’t relinquish again.

Prattville Christian went on to sweep the Lady Warriors with a 25-18 win in the third set, ending their season at 42-16.

“When you’re in a situation like that and you’re playing the No. 1 team in your class, you’ve got them down and you know you’ve got to close it, and then it doesn’t work out that way, it plays with you mentally,” Cherokee County coach Tiffany Rieger said. “I’ve been saying for the past couple of years that’s our biggest problem, staying focused and not going up and down with it.

“Volleyball is 110-percent a game of momentum swings. You’ve got to wait them out. When you’ve got it, you’ve got to keep it. When they’ve got it, you’ve got to put a stop to it and stop the bleeding as soon as possible. The team that usually does that the best is usually the one who comes out on top.”

Rieger said she felt the Lady Warriors had a good game plan against Prattville Christian (43-14) coming into Tuesday’s match. It just took them too long to get into it.

“Set two we did a much better job of carrying that game plan out, but not so much at the beginning of set one or in set three. Execution was huge,” Rieger said. “We came out in the first set and I think nerves kind of got us. Things started clicking for us finally. We kind of settled in a little bit. I told the girls there’s nothing we can do about how the (first) set started, but we’ve got to keep chipping away and keep the momentum going into set two no matter what the score winds up being. I thought they did a good job with that.

“We came out in set two on a pretty good run, but we didn’t close it, and that hurts. We left the door open. They swung it wide open and finished that set, then they had momentum going into set three.”

Emma Cate Carter led the Lady Panthers with 10 kills and 12 digs. Baylee Rogers added 30 assists, 14 digs and an ace. Natalee Wheeler posted 10 digs and three aces. Leah Cate Wilson finished with 10 kills and two blocks.

Macy Lea collected 20 assists and four digs for the Lady Warriors. Nevaeh Gaidurgis accumulated eight kills, five digs, two blocks and two aces. Ava Haygood also had eight kills along with four digs and three blocks. Jolie Alexander added four kills, three digs, a block, an ace and an assist. Ellisan Givens finished with 17 digs, a kill and an assist.

Tuesday marked the second straight season the Lady Warriors have played in the Elite 8, something Rieger said she told her team to be proud of.

“Getting here is hard,” Rieger said. “I told the girls I know it stinks, but you should be proud of what you’ve done. I wish regionals would’ve gone a little differently. If we would’ve pulled off that fifth set against Madison County it might’ve been a different situation (in the Elite 8). But could’ve, would’ve, should’ve. You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do in the moment and deal with the consequences. Our consequences put us against the No. 1 team in the state, and they’re good. They’re No. 1 for a reason. They’re big and they’re smart.”

With all but two players expected to return next year, Rieger is also excited for what the future could bring.

“We had a kid (Lea) playing on a broken foot, and I don’t think anybody could top that,” Rieger said. “After last year, they just kept saying ‘We’re getting back. We’re not settling.’ They worked real hard this summer. A lot more of them are playing club ball now, which is good. We’ve had some adversity, we’ve switched some people around, just trying to figure out what worked best for us. Losing seniors Libby (Curry) and Lilly (Shaw), I hate that because they’re two great kids who work hard and lead the team well, but the exciting thing for the program is it is just two seniors. Hopefully that will set the tone for next year.”