It's been a record-breaking season for the Baylor School volleyball team and that trend continued on Tuesday evening in the Baylor fieldhouse.

The Lady Red Raiders reached a major milestone back in August when they won their 1,000th match since fielding their first team 32 years ago.

And now, a little more than a month later, they played in front of their largest crowd ever in a regular season match as they defeated arch-rival GPS in three sets.

Normally there are no bleachers behind the team benches, but that curtain that divides the courts was lifted and bleachers brought in as a huge group of Baylor students gathered to celebrate another win over the Bruisers.

As you might imagine, it was loud as the Baylor students cheered with every point scored.  And then when the final point had been scored, they stormed the court to celebrate with the Lady Raiders.

These two teams have had some great matches in the past, but that rivalry isn't what it used to be as Baylor has been the dominant team in recent years.

Tuesday's result is proof as the Lady Raiders improved to 29-6 with the three-set sweep, winning easily by scores of 25-17, 25-11 and 25-12.

Baylor coach Sarah Lail gets as excited as anyone over a Baylor win and the veteran leader couldn't have been any happier when the final point had been scored.

"I'm so excited that my girls got to experience something like this.  Members of all our athletic teams were here, but Baylor is a family and we always try to support each other," Lail said.

"I just told my girls to enjoy the experience, but I thought they played well as we stayed on top of them.  I thought we served well and we just kept attacking, but we're right where we need to be at this point in the season.

"Another highlight for us was Sydney Sharpe getting her 1,000th assist and she's just a sophomore.  She's really an outstanding player who is only getting better.  But all six of my seniors got to play and it was a good experience for everyone," Lail added.

It's been a slow rebuilding process for the Bruisers and coach Alfie Dodd.  They have improved a lot since the start of the season, but they continue to make the same mistakes and that's about to drive their coach crazy.

"We just didn't play very good volleyball tonight," Dodd said after a spirited talk with his team following the match.

"We have some really athletic kids, but they're trying to use those athletic skills instead of what we're trying to teach as volleyball players.  We have some great practices, but we have a tough time doing in a match what we do in practice.

"Our passing was so much better today, but our hitters totally let us down.  They are normally pretty good, but they didn't play well today.  We had a lot of opportunities and maybe one day we'll be able to put all the pieces together," he added after his team dropped to 7-15 overall.

While the younger Sharpe had another outstanding match for Baylor and finished with 31 assists, she also served with authority as she finished the match with seven aces, including two to start the match in the first set.

Baylor was leading 9-8 when Elli Kinney recorded two of her match-high 13 kills and that was the beginning of the string of six straight service points by Sharpe that included two more aces.

A kill by Bailey Shahan extended the Baylor lead to 19-9 and it wasn't long until the Lady Red Raiders had a one-set lead.

The story was similar in the final two sets as GPS played tough at the start, but couldn't match their opponents as Baylor kept their foot on the accelerator and the Bruisers had nothing to respond with.

Alia Sherrow had a kill and a block for Baylor's final two points in the second set while a hitting error by the Bruisers was match point in the final set.

Sharpe had 31 assists, seven aces, four digs and a kill to lead Baylor while Kinney had 15 digs to go along with her 13 kills and two blocks.

Franny Brooksbank also had a dozen digs and two assists while Addie Margio added eight kills and three digs.

GPS travels to Chattanooga Christian for its next match on Thursday while Baylor returns to action on Monday with a road match at Knoxville Webb.

BAYLOR STATS:

Conleigh Brock – 1 kill

Morgan Sharpe – 1 ace, 6 digs

Franny Brooksbank – 12 digs, 2 assists

Addie Margio – 8 kills, 3 digs

Lucy Good – 2 kills

Bailey Shahan – 3 kills, 1 dig

Maggie Hansen – 6 kills, 1 block

Sydney Sharpe – 1 kill, 31 assists, 7 aces, 4 digs

Elli Kinney – 13 kills, 15 digs, 2 blocks

Alia Sherrow – 2 kills, 1 block

Kaylee Snyder – 2 digs.

Story by John Hunt- The Chattanoogan
https://www.chattanoogan.com/2022/9/27/456637/Baylor-Girls-Sweep-GPS-In-Volleyball.aspx