MATT TYSON

Staff Writer

Heading into the postseason, the Coffee County and Columbia Central volleyball teams had split this year’s regular-season series. Both regular-season matches went five sets, with Coffee County taking the first meeting in Columbia and the Lady Lions coming out on top in Manchester.

It was the Lady Raiders who had the last laugh Tuesday night.

Opening the Class 3A District 9 tournament against one another, the host Lady Raiders took care of business in three sets to keep their season rolling.

“I told them, if they played like they did against Lawrence County on Thursday night, we could do this,” Coffee County coach Jon Spears said. “I think this is one of the best all-around games together we’ve played and that’s what you want. You want it to hit all cylinders right about tournament time.”

Coffee County got out to an early lead in the first set, but Columbia came back to cut it to one point at 9-8. The Lady Raiders held their lead from there and were able to regain more space as the set continued, before going on to win it 25-18.

Another close start to the second set saw the two teams neck-and-neck early on, before Coffee County broke a 6-6 tie with four straight points. The Lady Raiders continued to maintain their gap with Columbia from there and ultimately took the set 25-17 to go up 2-0 on the match.

Coffee County went on take control early in the third set and remain ahead from there, winning 25-20 to complete the three-set sweep.

With the win, the Lady Raiders advance to the district tournament semifinals to take on No. 1 seed Lawrence County at 4 p.m. Thursday. The winner of this match will face the winner of the 5:30 p.m. semifinal between Tullahoma and Lincoln County in the district tournament final, which will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday night. All three matches will be held at Coffee County Central High School.

The Lady Cats took the regular-season series between the two teams by scores of 3-0 and 3-1, respectively.

“We’re gonna come in and practice tomorrow,” Spears said of preparing for Thursday’s match. “We’ll do what we did yesterday, have a little fun at practice, let them get loose and everything and get ready for Thursday.”

Prior to the match, junior Hayleigh Harris was recognized for reaching 500 career digs, a feat she accomplished during Coffee County’s match against Lawrence County Thursday. She went on to finish Tuesday’s match against Columbia with 17.

Additional dig totals against the Lady Lions included a team-high 21 for Jenslee Nogodula. Danni Hillis finished the evening with 17 digs as well. Isabelle Saner added 12. Andon Selvog followed with nine. Cailey Sturgill brought in three digs. Paisley Dyer and Blaine Weaver were both credited with two each. Addy Wild and Genna Sadler each had one dig.

Selvog and Nogodula shared the top spot for aces with three each. Sadler had two.

Harris led the team in kills with 12, finishing just ahead of Hillis with 11. Up next was Dyer with five kills. Wild picked up four. Saner recorded three kills. Sturgill came away with two. Selvog and Weaver both had one kill each.

Wild had the team’s only block.

Selvog took the top spot for assists with 17. Saner followed with 10. Nogodula added five assists. Sadler had one.

The win improved Coffee County to 18-14 on the season.