By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Despite a 3-1 loss to Gibson County in the Region 7A Tournament championship, every goal the Union City volleyball team had before the season began remains attainable.
A 3-0 sweep of Crosstown (Memphis) High School in the regional semifinals prior to the Lady Tornadoes’ title match loss to host GC Tuesday night assured UC a spot in the sectionals.
Union City (23-6) will play at Middleton Thursday at 6 p.m., with a victory against the Lady Tigers sending the Twister girls back to the Class A state tournament for the second straight year and fourth time in the 13-season program history.
UC defeated Middleton 3-1 last year to qualify for the Elite Eight.
“Everything we wanted to accomplish is still a real possibility for the girls,” Lady Tornado head coach Jessica Graham said after her squad split a pair of back-to-back matches Tuesday and stayed on the court for three hours.
“Naturally, we’re disappointed at not being able to win the region championship, but I think we’ll be able to get over this quickly, knowing that our goal of getting back to the state tournament is still within reach.”
UC took care of its most important item of business with a straight-set 25-7, 25-17, 26-24 victory over Crosstown – a program they defeated at the same level last year.
The Lady Tornadoes were scrappy and mounted a number of long rallies on points that could’ve gone either way against the Yetis, who showed considerable improvement over last year’s version and were this year’s District 14A champions.
UC had several strong stretches of consecutive points in the match with Addison Carr, Ca’Lae Ervin, and Maddison Hillin serving.
Madie Theobald teed-up 26 assists and had six saves, while Gracie Sims threw down 15 kills. Crickett Washburn recorded eight kills.
The Lady Tornadoes pushed nemesis Gibson County to the limit in Game 1 of the finals before dropping a 25-23 decision. After falling 25-19 in the second game, Union City rallied to take Game 3, 25-19, when Carr smashed the deciding point to end an 8-2 flurry.
GC finished strong, however, taking advantage of several of the Twisters’ 68 errors to win Game 4, 25-13, and defeat UC for the third time in four meetings this season.
Ervin finished with 12 kills in a solid outing, while Theobald totaled 35 assists and five saves. Carr had six saves, a half-dozen kills, and four digs, while Clare Atwill finished with 10 digs. Sims had a team-high 16 kills, and Washburn recorded seven.
Theobald, Ervin, and Sims were named to the all-tournament team in postgame ceremonies.
“I believe having a tougher opponent in the first match (Crosstown) was good for us, and I thought we responded well right out of the gate,” Graham added. “We just weren’t consistent enough to overcome our mistakes against Gibson County.
“We’ll be in familiar territory on Thursday (at Middleton), and I think having been there before and having had success last year is important. The long bus ride might not be fun, but I’m hoping we’re not satisfied yet with this season. We still need to get over some mental blocks, and we’re certainly capable of doing that with the opportunities we have in front of us.”