Three UC Teams Qualify For Substate, Cookeville Set To Host

The Cookeville Lady Cavs are one of three teams from the Upper Cumberland that have qualified for Substate, as they will host Coffee County on Thursday at 7 P.M.

The Lady Cavs have been a dominant team all year long on the court, and they kept their State Title aspirations alive on Monday with a 3-0 win over Bradley Central in the first round of the Region Tournament.

This set up a Region Championship match with Cleveland, the same team that Cookeville lost to last year in the same scenario. While this was one of the biggest challenges to-date for the home team, they battled their way to a 3-1 win and the Region Championship.

Sophomore Blair Cherry and Seniors Meredith Herndon and Blake Cherry were each named to the All-Region Team, while fellow Senior Mattie Arnett was named the Region MVP. The Lady Cavs will battle Coffee County on Thursday with a berth in the State Tournament on the line.

Livingston Academy was another qualifier, as they hosted the Region 4-2A Tournament on Tuesday. The Lady Cats opened the night with a 3-0 win over Red Bank and got to rest as Stone Memorial battled Signal Mountain.

The Lady Panthers took Signal Mountain to five sets, but couldn’t get the job done, setting up an LA-Signal Mountain Final.

After winning the first two sets, Livingston just couldn’t put the visiting team away, and it led to a 3-2 loss for the Lady Cats. They will now have to regroup before heading to East Hamilton on Thursday with their season and a trip to the State Tournament on the line.

Finally, the Van Buren Eaglettes find them in the same round, but different scenario as last season.

The Eaglettes dominated the postseason last year up to their Substate match with Gatlinburg-Pittman, but they couldn’t overcome the size of the visitors and their season ended there.

A year later, Van Buren finds themselves with a match on the road against South Greene, who haven’t lost a set in their last five matches. It’ll be a tough match once again for Coach Sarah Hickerson’s squad, but they’ve stepped up in big moments before. It’ll just be a matter of who steps up on Thursday.

For all the coverage of the Substate round and the State Tournament beyond, be sure to check back here for more updates.