Cleveland Rams claim Two Rivers 3A volleyball tournament title over South Johnston

A day after locking up a state tournament berth and ending the lengthy conference title reign of Triton, there was one more task at hand for the Cleveland volleyball team: winning the Two Rivers 3A tournament title.

The Rams did just that Wednesday, capturing their first conference title with a 25-17, 25-20, 20-25, 25-14 victory over South Johnston.

Senior Alexis Ivey had 11 kills and 10 blocks, Taylor Thomas added 13 kills and Taylor Hein had seven kills and 16 digs for Cleveland (20-3), which locked up the second seed from the Two Rivers 3A for the state tournament. Corinth Holders was the regular-season champ and will take the No. 1-seed.

“We really came a long way this season,” Cleveland senior setter Walli Driggers said. “We had to find a new back row, a new libero, it was a lot of work to rebuild our whole team.

“I have been on varsity for four years, I’ve gone through the (conference) playoffs losing in the first or second round every time. It means a lot to all these girls. I’m proud of all of them.”

Cleveland advanced to Wednesday’s final by defeating 14-time defending champion Triton in four sets Friday, and South Johnston ousted top-seeded Corinth Holders in four sets.

The turning point of the title match came late in the second set. After Cleveland won the first set, the Trojans were poised to knot the match after taking a 16-11 lead in the second set.

However, Hein served seven straight points – many of her serves during the run finding the soft spot in South Jefferson’s defense – to put Cleveland ahead 18-16, and the Rams would not trail the rest of the set.

“It is one of her strengths. She does a lot of extra training on the weekends and they focus a lot on her serving,” Cleveland coach Shelly Johnston said. “She can serve to spots and I don’t have to tell her where to serve.”

South Johnston (18-8) didn’t go quietly, winning the third set fairly comfortably. But a 7-1 run by Cleveland in the fourth set produced a 15-8 Rams lead and the Trojans didn’t seriously challenge the rest of the way.

Emma Blackman had 17 kills and Lily Allen nine to pace South Johnston.

“At times we weren’t as aggressive as they were,” South Johnston coach Matthew Adams said. “They have some athletic girls, when they pass the ball, I thought they were the best team in our conference all year.

“When we made surges it was when they struggled to pass and serve receive. We just weren’t quite consistent enough tonight to make runs of our own.”

It was almost fitting that Cleveland defeated South Johnston to win the title. It was a three-set loss to the Trojans on Sept. 17 that Johnston felt was the turning point in her team’s season. Since then, the Rams have won 11 of 12 matches.

“We learned that we were playing as individuals, our defense was awful,” Johnston said of that 26-24, 25-13, 25-20 home loss. “Once we learned how to play as a team, and learn how to depend on each other, our defense came along.

“The second half of our season has been about learning to play with each other, and that’s what they did.”

Triton will take the league’s No. 3 seed into the postseason, and South Johnston will be a wild-card when the brackets are announced Thursday.

This story was originally published October 21, 2015 at 9:03 PM with the headline "Cleveland Rams claim Two Rivers 3A volleyball tournament title over South Johnston."