Lady Bobcats sweep Gibbs to remain atop district standings

By Ken Lay

It has truly been one of the best seasons for Central High School’s volleyball team. And as the 2025 campaign enters its home stretch, the Lady Bobcats are perched alone atop the District 3-3A standings.

Central (19-4 overall, 10-0 in the district) dispatched Gibbs in three sets Thursday night, notching a 25-10, 25-18, 25-11 victory in Fountain City.

The Lady Bobcats handled the match against the Lady Eagles with relative ease except for a slow start in the second set when the young Gibbs team darted out to a 5-0 lead thanks to a four-point service run by Macy Ramsey after the Lady Eagles tallied the first set on a side-out.

Gibbs, which recently defeated Halls, is in a rebuilding mode this season after making a trip to the Class 2A State Tournament in Murfreesboro last year. The Lady Eagles lost eight players off the squad that reached the grand stage at the Midstate in 2024, and then were moved up in classification.

“We’re young and we lost eight seniors off that team that made it to state last year,” Gibbs coach Holly Walker said. “We got a big win against Halls, and we really needed that one.

“That proved that we can play with anybody, and all of our district matches have been competitive. It’s not like anything has been a blowout.”

Central is the lone team remaining with an unblemished league record. Those wins, however, haven’t always come easily as the district is quickly becoming ultra-competitive.

The Lady Bobcats have a pair of five-set wins against two-time defending district champion Clinton.  It also took Central five sets to put away Powell and Anderson County. The Lady Bobcats also defeated Gibbs (in the first meeting between the two teams), Oak Ridge and the Lady Devils, their Black Oak Ridge rivals.

But Central coach Susan Davidson was pleased with her team’s effort last week as they swept Campbell County for a second time this year and made short work of Gibbs.

“We had some fun tonight and I’m just really proud of them,” Davidson said. “Gibbs is a good team.

“They’re just young.”

In Thursday night’s victory, the Lady Bobcats had strong performances all over the floor, including strong service games from Ally Bryant, Pyper Clevenger, Maddie Hinton, Kaylin Wiley and Jolie Sheddan.