Southeast, Dalton earn spots in state tournament

Published 12:27 am Sunday, October 10, 2010

LAFAYETTE — It wasn’t the ending that either Southeast Whitfield or Dalton wanted, but at least it wasn’t THE end.

The volleyball teams from each school fell short of their goals of an Area 7-AAA title, but both will be advancing to the state tournament, hitting the road next Saturday to face teams from Area 4-AAA in the first round.

On Saturday at LaFayette, the only thing the two teams had in common was falling to the Lady Ramblers in the loser’s bracket elimination games. After Dalton rallied to take the first game 25-23 in the elimination bracket semifinals and being one point away from sweeping LaFayette out to earn a rematch with Southeast, the Ramblers rallied for a 26-24 victory and completely dominated the deciding third game 25-17.  

LaFayette kept that momentum going against Southeast, splitting the first two games 25-18, 15-25 before rallying for a 25-22 win over the Lady Raiders. The day’s results mean that Southeast will be the No. 3 seed from the area at the state tournament, while Dalton will be the fourth seed.

LaFayette couldn’t keep that run going against Ringgold as the Lady Tigers claim the area title with the Ramblers as the No. 2 seed.

Despite the losses, both Dalton coach Joey Wills and Southeast’s Jake Dickey were excited about continuing their seasons.

“We’re pleased,” Wills said. “We made our goal of making it to the state tournament. I will have to get online and do some investigating about who we will have to play.”

Dickey wasn’t as chipper after his team had four unforced errors down the stretch to lose a 19-14 lead over LaFayette in the final game, allowing the Lady Ramblers to go on a 9-0 run to take control of the match. However, he was pleased to return to the playoffs for the second year in a row and the third time in the last five seasons.

“We made plenty of mistakes, but overall I was pleased that the girls made the state playoffs, and that is a real accomplishment,” Dickey said. “At the beginning of the year, I didn’t know exactly what kind of team we would have. About midway through the year, I thought we had a chance. Now we are in the tournament, and we have a chance.”

The losses to LaFayette spoiled what would have been a second meeting between the two rival schools on the day. Southeast had beaten Dalton 25-22, 19-25, 28-26 in a winner’s bracket semifinal contest earlier in the day. Dalton then had to beat Gilmer 25-13, 25-19 in order to secure a state tournament bid.

After beating Dalton to open the day, Southeast had already assured itself of a spot at state before losing to Ringgold in the winner’s bracket finals 25-22, 25-21.

• Northwest falls in 7-4A Tourney: Northwest Whitfield finished fifth in the Area 7-4A tournament, falling to Creekview in an elimination game at Sprayberry on Saturday.

The Lady Bruins (7-31) lost 25-10, 25-10 in the last elimination game before claiming a state tournament berth.

Top-ranked Pope won the title over Sprayberry, while Sequoyah was third and Creekview claimed the No. 4 spot.