08/18/2026
Upperman Rallies From Two Sets Down to Stun Cookeville in Five-Set Opening-Night Thriller
By TSSN Staff Reports
Presented by Guffey Law
COOKEVILLE — If opening night was any indication, volleyball fans across the Upper Cumberland may be in for one heck of a season.
A huge crowd packed the gym in Cookeville on Monday night as the Lady Cavaliers welcomed cross-county rival Upperman for the season opener. The student sections were rowdy, the gym was loud, and the intensity on the floor felt much more like postseason volleyball than match No. 1.
And those who left after Cookeville grabbed a commanding two-set advantage missed the best part.
Upperman erased a 2-0 deficit by winning three consecutive sets, completing a remarkable comeback with a 15-10 victory in the fifth to defeat Cookeville 3-2 and open the season 1-0.
The final set scores were Cookeville 25-23, 25-14; Upperman 25-17, 25-18, 15-10.
Lady Cavs Control the Opening Two Sets
The opening set immediately established the tone.
Upperman held a 22-21 advantage before Cookeville’s Vaughn Wehage delivered a huge block at the net. A Lady Bees serve-receive error then pushed Cookeville in front 23-22, and senior outside hitter Taylor Owen eventually finished the set with an ace as the Lady Cavaliers grabbed the opener, 25-23.
Cookeville carried that momentum into the second.
Both teams struggled with some early opening-night mistakes, but Presley Hickman stopped an early Cookeville run with a kill that trimmed the Lady Cavs’ advantage to 5-3.
Wehage answered with another emphatic block, helping Cookeville push ahead 7-5.
From there, the Lady Cavaliers took control.
Cookeville stretched its advantage to 13-7 following a service ace and continued pouring on the pressure. Upperman head coach Tori Permenter called timeout with her team trailing 17-10, hoping to slow a Cookeville attack that had found its rhythm.
It didn’t work — at least not immediately.
Owen and Emma Cook helped keep the Cookeville offense rolling, and the Lady Cavaliers dominated the remainder of the set for a 25-14 victory.
Cookeville was up 2-0.
Some fans headed for the exits.
They probably wish they hadn’t.
Upperman Flips the Match
The team that returned to the floor for Upperman in the third set looked completely different.
The passing became cleaner. The setting became sharper. The Lady Bees reduced their mistakes and, most importantly, began aggressively attacking the net.
That’s when Hickman started getting airborne.
The Upperman standout began hammering away at the Cookeville defense, while sophomore Josie Bush and Bella Tidwell joined the attack.
Suddenly, Cookeville was the team playing on its heels.
Upperman controlled the third set 25-17, and the momentum had unmistakably shifted.
“We made a lot of errors the second set — a lot,” Permenter said afterward. “I said, ‘If we just cut those errors in half, we’ll win.’ And they did. We had very minimal errors in the third, fourth and fifth set.”
The Lady Bees weren’t finished.
With their backs still against the wall in the fourth, Upperman continued attacking. Cookeville made several impressive digs defensively, but the relentless pressure prevented the Lady Cavaliers from consistently transitioning into their own offense.
Upperman’s hitters kept coming.
Hickman attacked. Bush attacked. Tidwell attacked.
Upperman took the fourth set 25-18.
Two sets apiece.
Game on.
Bush Takes Over in the Fifth
By the deciding fifth set, the gym had reached another level.
And so did Josie Bush.
With the score tight, the 5-foot-9 sophomore delivered consecutive kills to give Upperman a 6-5 advantage.
The Lady Bees never trailed again.
Bush had found her rhythm from the left side, and Upperman’s confidence continued growing with every point. The Lady Bees closed out the fifth 15-10, triggering an emotional celebration after completing the reverse sweep.
Bush finished with a match-high 15 kills, five aces and two blocks, earning TSSN Prime Time Performer of the Game honors.
Afterward, Bush said she knew she needed to become more vocal and assertive when her team fell behind.
“What was going through my mind is that I really need to step up and be a leader and be able to get us back in the game,” Bush told TSSN. “But also not only focusing on myself. I need to focus on my teammates, ensure that they’re not getting down and they’re up in their best spirits.”
Bush said Upperman’s offensive turnaround came from recognizing what Cookeville was giving the Lady Bees.
“We realized what was working and what wasn’t working,” Bush said. “We were able to not only make adjustments on our side, but be able to read across the net and see what they were doing and be able to find their holes and their gaps.”
Hickman, Bush Power Lady Bees Attack
Bush wasn’t alone.
Hickman put together a huge opening-night performance with 14 kills, seven aces and a block, giving Upperman a powerful one-two punch at the net.
Tidwell added five kills and a solo block, while senior libero Shayla Burchett made some clutch defensive plays to ignite the Upperman comeback.
For Cookeville, Wehage delivered a strong all-around performance with seven kills, five aces and a block. Owen finished with six kills and three aces.
The statistics tell part of the story.
The response after falling behind 2-0 told the rest.
“If Y’all Play for Each Other, You’re Unstoppable”
Permenter credited her team’s willingness to stay together after a difficult second set.
“After the second set, I told them, ‘If y’all play for each other, you’re unstoppable,’” Permenter said. “I think we played really unselfish ball in the third, fourth and fifth set. I couldn’t be prouder of them.”
She also acknowledged the atmosphere surrounding a matchup between neighboring programs separated by only about 15 miles.
Cookeville showed up.
Baxter showed up.
And Upper Cumberland volleyball delivered.
“I loved the crowd,” Permenter said. “I love that they got to see a great game. I mean, what a game to come to. I was hoping for a five-set thriller. That’s what we got.”
Permenter believed the environment may have contributed to some of Upperman’s early struggles.
“I think that the crowd was a little bit of a shock,” she said. “It’s the first game of the season. We’re kind of coming here the underdog. We’re 2A, they’re 3A. So it was a lot, a lot of hype surrounding this game. It took us longer than I wanted for us to settle in. But they settled in.”
They certainly did.
A Statement on Opening Night
Upperman leaves Cookeville 1-0, while the Lady Cavaliers begin the season 0-1 despite showing plenty of reasons for optimism in the opening two sets.
Cookeville travels to Smyrna on Tuesday, while Upperman turns around and hosts district foe DeKalb County.
But Monday night’s result may ultimately be remembered for something bigger than a single win or loss.
On the opening night of girls volleyball in the Upper Cumberland, two cross-county rivals played in front of a packed, energized gym and delivered five sets of high-level, emotional volleyball.
Cookeville landed the first punch.
Upperman absorbed it.
Then the Lady Bees came roaring back.
And when these two meet again in Baxter on September 29th, finding a seat might be even tougher.
FINAL: Upperman 3, Cookeville 2
Cookeville — 25, 25, 17, 18, 10
Upperman — 23, 14, 25, 25, 15
TSSN Prime Time Performer: Josie Bush, Upperman — 15 kills, 5 aces, 2 blocks
