Van Buren Plays for Region 2A Volleyball Championship
For the second year in a row, the Van Buren County Eaglettes will face the Meigs County Lady Tigers for the Region 2A volleyball championship Tuesday evening. The Eaglettes earned the spot in the championship by downing the Tellico Plains Lady Bears 3-0 Monday evening.
Van Buren simply outmanned the Lady Bears in aggressive play at the net, racking up 26 kills to only seven kills for Tellico over the three sets. The victory was a testament to the overall strength of the Eaglettes, as the team had some difficulty in keeping their hard-driving spikes in bounds.
After the teams jockeyed for the lead in the first set, Van Buren pulled ahead for good at 6-5 and proceeded to destroy the Lady Bears 25-10 in the set. Riley Scoggins led the attack with seven kills, and Greta Rigsby added three kills. The Lady Bears recorded only one kill in the set. When Emma Scoggins began to serve with Van Buren leading 14-9, the Eaglettes scored ten straight points. Two of those ten points came on service aces by Scoggins.
Van Buren took an early 4-0 lead in the second set, but Tellico fought back to tie the score at 5-5. The Lady Bears then took the lead at 9-8. Van Buren tied the score at 13-13 and then pulled away as Emma Scoggins served consecutive aces in a streak of five points. The Eaglettes closed out the set 25-16 and took a 2-0 lead over the Lady Bears. Van Buren managed only seven kills in the set as the Lady Bears stepped up their blocking defense at the net.
Things got interesting in the third set as the Lady Bears showed why they were in the regional tournament. Despite Van Buren having an 8-3 edge in kills, the Lady Bears’ defense took everything Van Buren could throw at them and gave it right back. The set was characterized by several extended volleys that included hard spikes and blocks by both teams. The score was tied 13 times as the teams fought to a 23-23 tie. At that point Emma Scoggins served two points to close out the set 25-23 for Van Buren for a 3-0 match victory. Van Buren had an uncharacteristic four service errors in the set, and Tellico Plains had five service errors. Eaglettes Riley Scoggins and Greta Rigsby combined for seven kills in the set.
Van Buren will be looking to repeat history Tuesday evening – they defeated Meigs County for the 2019 championship by a score of 3-0. Regardless of the outcome of the championship game, both Van Buren and Meigs County will move on to subsection play Thursday evening, with the regional champion getting home court advantage