By Rob Tate
SportCast Media
Bradi Rhodes led the night in assists and contributed defensively with several digs. Layla Porter led the night in kills.
Their respective stats Tuesday night against Caney Creek were impressive, but they didn’t tell the whole story of how cherished the pair of seniors have been to the Oak Ridge volleyball program.
Rhodes and Porter were honored after a 25-10, 25-14, 25-10 District 13-6A sweep of the Panthers with a Senior Night celebration.
“I remember last Layla were like, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s us next year’,” Rhodes said after posing for plenty of photos were teammates, family and friends for the occasion. “It finally came and it’s really sad. But exciting for the future.”
Porter couldn’t believe the day had arrived. She had mixed emotions.
“Yes and no because I don’t want to grow up too fast,” Porter said when asked if she was ready for Senior Night. “During game day practice, I was saying that I couldn’t believe this day has come. It came really fast.”
For coach Tommie Lynne Sledge, Rhodes and Porter making it this far was great to see. They were both freshman the season Sledge returned to coaching at Oak Ridge after opening the program at Lake Creek.
Sledge coached Bradi’s older sister Brianna prior to leaving in 2018.
“I had Bradi’s sister my first time through,” Sledge said. “That family has been so special and Bradi has been so special. She’s been on varsity for four years and has been super supportive of everything that has pushed to the excellence we want at Oak Ridge.”
Rhodes had 29 assists and six digs as the War Eagles picked up their fifth home sweep of the season.
Porter led in kills with 10 of the team’s 43.
“Layla – I’ve just seen so much growth in her,” Sledge said. “We just had actually had a conversation the other night and I just told her she is literally like the epitome of what I want for kids.
That conversation centered around trusting the process.
“She’s having a great senior year and she’s work hard for it,” Sledge said. “She’s put in the work, she’s trusted the process and now she’s having a lot of success.”
Oak Ridge (28-7, 5-2) has won five of six and two consecutive. The win over Caney Creek created separation in the standings between itself, Willis and the Panthers.
Caney Creek (16-14, 3-4), coached by Samantha Lang, has won three of five now and beat Conroe last Friday night. Sixteen total wins matches last season.
Oak Ridge only trailed for a brief period early in the second set.
“I made sure to reach out to their coach because that was a big win,” Sledge said. “I’ve seen so much growth in their program and I made sure to tell my girls don’t sleep on anybody. Caney Creek came out and fought. The score doesn’t reflect how well I thought they played.”
In the third set, Oak Ridge took a timeout and honored junior Gaby Santiago, who now has totaled over 1,000 kills and 1,200 digs in her career.
Santiago had nine kills and 13 digs against the Panthers. She also had two aces.
Jade Clay led in blocks with three and she added four kills. Leila Ceaser totaled eight kills while Micah Rusher had seven and Karli Glover had five. Caesar had 11 digs and while Riley Dube had seven.
Heading into the final district match of the first round – at The Woodlands Friday evening – Oak Ridge is doing everything it can to reach the playoffs. Right now, Oak Ridge is four wins short of last year’s season total of 32.
“It’s been really good and it’s been fun,” Rhodes said. “We’ve had a lot of highs and we get through the lows. We have each other.”
Porter had a similar take on the season.
“We have our highs and we get through the lows,” Porter said. “We just push and fight for each other.”
After the win, the seniors introduced themselves in an audio recording to the crowd and the audience filled with family, friends and teammates made a circle around the pair.
“It was really nice to have all the love and support from everybody,” Porter said. “Everybody is just excited for you and what you’re going to do in the future.”
