Science Hill volleyball wins sixth-straight Big East title with win over D-B

JOHNSON CITY — The Big East Conference in the 2020s has belonged to Science Hill volleyball to this point in the decade. They showed no signs of slowing down on Tuesday night. The Lady Hilltoppers welcomed rival Dobyns-Bennett to Johnson City and defeated them in four sets, 25-20, 25-22, 21-25, 25-23, to win their sixth conference championship in a row. "What I love about this team in particular is the closeness they have with each other," Lady Hilltoppers head coach Laura Cook said. "There's a lot of dogs out there who want the ball. And that's a good problem to have. But they root for each other and just want the point. I just appreciated how close they are because that's not something you can count on with a team always." The Lady 'Toppers (29-2, 9-0) came out of the gates strong to open the night, scoring 11 of the first 15 points. The early extended run forced a Dobyns-Bennett timeout, but Science Hill grew the lead to 17-7 to force another stoppage. It was after this second Lady Indians (20-8, 7-2) timeout, though, D-B was able to gather itself. It slowly worked its deficit to seven before going on a 4-0 run to make it a 22-18 score in the first. Cook then used a timeout to steady her group, and it proved to work. The Lady Hilltoppers grew their lead to six before ultimately taking the first stanza by five. Science Hill kept the momentum early in the second set by scoring the first three points. However, the Lady Indians answered with the next four, and the two sides continued to trade blows to a 10-10 score. Then, the Lady 'Toppers went on a 4-0 run that became an extended 8-2 spurt. It forced D-B to take both of its timeouts for the set, but it worked as the visitors from Kingsport whittled their deficit to just one at 22-21. Following a Science Hill timeout, the hosts took three of the next four points to win the set. With their backs against the wall, the Lady Indians came out in the third fighting for their night to stay alive. They scored six of the first eight points and grew its lead in the frame to as much as five in the early going. The Lady Toppers rallied to trail just 10-9, but D-B scored the next three points to keep them at arms' length. The two sides effectively traded blows the rest of the set, as Science Hill could only get within two points the rest of the set. It allowed the Lady Indians to see a fourth set. In the fourth, Science Hill and D-B remained tight, as a big Lady Topper run to go up four was answered by a Lady Indian spurt to retake the lead 14-12. From there, the Lady Hilltoppers took a timeout, scored four in a row, and answered every counterpunch from Dobyns-Bennett to earn the win. Lucy O'Daniel was recognized for reaching the 2,000-career assist mark postgame from last week and added another 42 to her total. She also had five kills and nine digs. "I can see, sometimes, them moving in a direction and I pass in the way the blocks are going," O'Daniel said. Chloe Conner led the Lady Toppers with 16 kills while Bryleigh Scott had 11 more. Conner and O'Daniel both had three aces. Isa Dau registered 15 digs and Scott added four blocks. For Dobyns-Bennett, Jeslyn Harden and Norah Shook recorded 23 and 21 kills, respectively. Milly Williams led the team with 27 digs and Reese Hatcher dished out 56 assists. Up Next Science Hill will finish its Big East slate at West Ridge on Thursday. Dobyns-Bennett will host Daniel Boone on Thursday.