Lady Trojans advance to volleyball Final Four

Northpoint Christian’s volleyball team has reached the Final Four of the TSSAA Division II-A state volleyball playoffs after a three-set state quarterfinal victory over Knoxville Grace Saturday afternoon at Northpoint. 

Set scores were 25-14, 25-12 and 25-15.  

The Lady Trojans (25-4) now join Battle Ground Academy of Franklin, Notre Dame of Chattanooga, and Concord Christian of Knoxville, starting Tuesday, to determine a state champion.  Pairings were not immediately available late Saturday, but the four teams will be seeded to determine the semi-final pairings.  

The semi-finals and finals are played at Middle Tennessee Christian School in Murfreesboro. 

Northpoint took a 5-4 lead in the first set and a service run from Maycee Gross grew the lead to 8-4. A service ace from Quinn Thurman increased the margin to 12-5 and two more points forced a Knoxville Grace timeout. A kill from Brylee Faith Cherry put Northpoint in striking range of the first set at 20-11, followed by a Quinn Thurman ace and a point from Isis Reid off a Grace block finished the set at 25-14.  

Grace came out strong in the second set with a 5-1 lead but just as quickly Northpoint came back and got within 6-5. From there, five straight Lady Trojan points grew the margin to 10-6.  

A service ace from Quinn Thurman gave Northpoint a 14-8 lead and four of the next five points fashioned an 18-9 edge and a timeout from the Lady Rams.  Cherry came out of the timeout with a kill to give the Lady Trojans a 20-10 lead. Northpoint went on from there to a 25-12 set win.  

In the third set, Northpoint took a 4-0 lead when Quinn Thurman served an ace, but Grace recovered to get within 8-5 when a Northpoint volley went long. But when Quinn Thurman dropped a shot over the net for a point, the Lady Trojans had a 10-5 lead.  

Northpoint took a 15-8 lead when a Lady Rams volley found the net and no further and when the lead became 18-10, Grace took a timeout hoping to get something together. 

Cherry added a kill, Addie Kate O’Bar served an ace and when a Grace volley was struck into the net, the match was over with the 25-15 third-set victory.  

For the match, Cherry had nine kills and six blocks, Quinn Thurman served four aces, and Sophie Bauer recorded 35 assists.  Sailor Cole added 17 digs.