Summertown's Gracie Kelly wraps up 'dream' 2022 with TSSAA state volleyball championship
The year 2022 has been good to Summertown senior Gracie Kelly.
After winning two state tennis titles in the spring (doubles, team), Kelly captured her third championship Friday, helping Summertown (44-9) win the Class A state volleyball tournament with a 3-0 victory over rival Loretto.
"It's been a dream," Kelly said of the past several months. "The state tournament is something everybody wants (to get to) and everybody wants to win. Maybe I'll win another (tennis) title in the spring. ... Hopefully two more."
Kelly's biggest fan was also guiding her on the sideline. Summertown coach Andrea Kelly said her daughter's success in 2022 has been surreal.
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"It's a different perspective ... a little more emotional (coaching two daughters on the team, Gracie and her younger sister Annalee)," Andrea Kelly said. "You know it's (Gracie's) last game, but what a way to end it, on the very top. She's got, I don't know, going to have seven rings on her hand from volleyball to tennis. She works her butt off. If she decides she wants to do something, she does it."
Gracie Kelly, the team's setter, was an integral part of the Lady Eagles' state title, contributing 39 assists and seven digs. She constantly fed fellow senior Ansley Burleson (17 kills) and sophomore Abbie Jo Shaffer (16 kills).
"Nobody thought we would make it back," said Gracie Kelly, whose squad has won three of the last four state titles (2019, 2020). "We were lacking in height. What we did today showed that we wanted it more than they did."
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It was the sixth time the two district rivals played this season. They split in the regular sesason. Summertown won the district tournament and Loretto the region title. Overall it was 3-3, with every Lady Eagle win being 3-0. However, the biggest lead for either team in the state title match was five points.
"Yes!," Gracie Kelly said when asked if they got tired of playing their Lawrence County rivals. "We know them so well, and I'm friends with a lot of them."
"We know each other so well ... the players know each other by first name," said Loretto coach Nick Quillen, whose squad finished runner-up for the second straight year (after winning the title in 2018). "A lot comes down to the most minute things ... one less service error, one less hitting error, one more dig than them, or who woke up more pumped up than the other team that day.
"It's always going to be that fight."
Ally Weathers had 16 kills and Laney Weathers 13 kills for Loretto (39-12).
As for Gracie Kelly, she will have a couple more state titles to chase in the spring.
"I need a new (doubles) partner," she said.
This article originally appeared on Murfreesboro Daily News Journal: TSSAA volleyball: Summertown wins state for third time in four years
